RIYADH — Saudi Arabia's non-oil activities index recorded a significant surge of seven percent in August 2024 compared to the same month in 2023. This was supported by the increase in all non-oil economic activities, except for water supply and sanitation and waste management and treatment activities. In the meantime, activities in the oil sector saw a slight decline of 1.4 percent in August 2024 compared to the same month last year, according to the latest report of the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) issued on Thursday. There was also a decrease in the index of oil activities by 0.7 percent and an increase in the index of non-oil activities by 0.6 percent, compared to the previous month of July. The Industrial Production Index (IPI) report, released by GASTAT for August 2024, revealed one percent increase in IPI during August 2024 compared to the same month in 2023. This growth was primarily driven by increased activity in mining and quarrying, manufacturing, and electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning supply. The manufacturing sub-index increased by 1.1 percent year-on-year, supported by an increase in the activity of manufacturing chemicals and chemical products, and the activity of manufacturing food products, which each increased by 2.9 percent and 12.9 percent respectively, while the activity of manufacturing coke and refined petroleum products recorded an annual decrease of 11.3 percent. As for the monthly performance of the sub-index of manufacturing activity, the preliminary results indicate a 1.8 percent decrease in the index performance, affected by the decrease in the activity of coke and refined petroleum products manufacturing, which decreased by 6.4 percent, and the activity of paper and paper products manufacturing, which decreased by 0.1 percent. The sub-index for electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply activity recorded an increase of 4.1 percent, and the sub-index for water supply, sanitation, waste management and treatment activities recorded a decrease of 0.9 percent, compared to August of the previous year. When compared to July 2024, it is noted that the sub-index for electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply activity, and the sub-index for water supply, sanitation, waste management and treatment activities increased by 1.7 percent and 1.0 percent respectively.
