Saudi GDP fell 4.8% in the second quarter as non-oil activities grew 0.6%

Saudi Arabia's General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) said in flash estimates released on Thursday, July 30, 2026, that the Kingdom's real gross domestic product fell 4.8 percent in the second quarter of 2026 compared with the same period a year earlier. The main driver was a 24.7 percent drop in oil activities. Over the same period, non-oil activities grew 0.6 percent and government activities rose 0.9 percent.

Against the first quarter, real GDP declined 4.9 percent: oil activities fell 21.5 percent and non-oil activities 0.5 percent, while government activities edged up 0.2 percent. Oil activities contributed negative 4.5 percentage points to seasonally adjusted growth.

GASTAT attributed the sharp fall in the oil sector to severe disruptions to crude exports caused by the escalation of regional conflict and the near-closure of the Strait of Hormuz since late February. The OECD forecast in June that the Saudi economy would expand 3.2 percent this year and 4.3 percent in 2027. These figures are the first official measurement of what the closure of the strait has cost the region's largest oil exporter.