The real gross domestic product (GDP) of Saudi Arabia grew by 6.8% in the third quarter (Q3) of2021, compared to Q3 of2020, according to flash estimates released by the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT).

This positive growth was due to the high increase in oil activities by 9% as a result of rising world demand for crude oil and the increase of Saudi production in 2021, reported Saudi Press Agency (SPA).

Non-oil activities increased by 6.2% and government activities increased by 2.7% year-on-year.

The seasonally adjusted quarterly real GDP grew by 5.8% in Q3/2021, compared to the previous quarter (Q2/2021).

The flash estimates of quarterly GDP are calculated on the basis of estimates of quarterly national accounts with a short delay compared to the end of the reference quarter. At this time, the information relative to the most recent quarter is still partial and therefore subject to a relatively high level of approximation, the report said.

The flash estimates of quarterly GDP in constant prices are published at approximately 40 days from the end of the reference quarter.

The estimation process is the same as that of quarterly national accounts computed under a full information dataset, but it adopts simplifying assumptions on extrapolations of some (monthly or quarterly) indicators used within the complete procedure. Several indicators are used related to production, expenditure, income, price, foreign trade.

The flash estimates of quarterly GDP only cover the entire national economy and are presented without any sector detail.