Saudi Arabia's GDP contracted 4.8 percent in the second quarter of 2026 as non-oil activity grew 0.6 percent

Saudi Arabia's General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) said in its flash estimate of national accounts for the second quarter of 2026 that the country's real GDP growth rate was minus 4.8 percent in the quarter. The estimate was published on Thursday 30 July 2026 and is preliminary.

According to the same release, non-oil activities grew 0.6 percent in the second quarter of 2026, meaning the decline in the headline figure came mainly from the oil sector. Saudi Arabia's industrial production index was reported at minus 18.7 percent for May 2026.

GASTAT also reported inflation of 1.8 percent for June 2026 and a Saudi national unemployment rate of 6.4 percent for the first quarter of 2026. The figures come as the ongoing regional war and disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz have affected energy export flows from Persian Gulf countries. For the Iranian market, the direction of Saudi oil output and exports is one of the determinants of global crude prices and therefore of foreign currency revenue.