JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia’s economy is forecast to surge by around 3.8 percent in current prices to hit an all time high in 2012 amid swelling oil prices underpinned by robust public and private sectors, Jadwa Investments said.
It also projected that the Kingdom’s real GDP would grow by nearly 5.3 percent in 2012, one of its highest rates in years, with the government sector leading the growth, according to the Saudi Gazette Monday.
From around SR2,136 billion in 2011, nominal GDP is projected to swell to an all time high of SR2,245 billion in 2012, Jadwa said.
Nominal growth in 2012 will be far below the 28 percent rate achieved in 2011, one of its largest increases in Saudi history. It is also below the 19.7 percent growth in 2010, but in contrast with a 20.9 percent contraction in 2009, when oil prices slumped by nearly 50 percent to $60 a barrel and Saudi Arabia slashed crude output by about one million barrels per day to 8.2 million bpd. (QNA)
