RIYADH: Spending in Saudi Arabia fell ahead of Ramadan as shoppers waited to bag bargains during the holy month.
Supermarkets traditionally roll out discounts during Ramadan with some of the best price cuts to be had on basic items.
On Wednesday Carrefour cut the price of a 10 kilo bag of rice by SR25. City Flower Department Stores were offering a SR50 free purchase for every SR250 spent on garments and footwear. Lulu discounted the price of an iPhone 12 Pro Max to SR5199 from 5699.
Central bank data reflects a lull in consumer spending last week across the Kingdom.
Earlier Al Eqtisadiah reported that spending in the Kingdom fell 11.7 percent during the week ending April 10.
The food and beverage sector accounted for the lion's share or total sales at 17.4 percent of total sales, amounting to SR1.74 billion. But that still represented a 9.6 percent drop from the previous week.
The education sector recorded a 22.9 percent decline, as sales amounted to about SR100.3 million.
The telecommunications sector also recorded a 16.5 percent decline.
Point of sale (POS) transactions decreased during the past week by about 5.4 per cent, to reach about 96.1 million operations across all sectors compared to about 101.6 million operations for the previous week.
Saudi spending drops as shoppers wait to bag Ramadan bargains
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Saudi spending drops as shoppers wait to bag Ramadan bargains
- Spending in Riyadh dropped by 9.3 percent
Closing Bell: Saudi main index closes in red at 10,847
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All Share Index dipped on Wednesday, losing 58.51 points, or 0.54 percent, to close at 10,847.93.
The total trading turnover of the benchmark index was SR3.78 billion ($1 billion), as 73 of the listed stocks advanced, while 187 retreated.
The MSCI Tadawul Index decreased, down 7.09 points or 0.48 percent, to close at 1,472.98.
The Kingdom’s parallel market Nomu lost 178.75 points, or 0.77 percent, to close at 22,916.83. This comes as 30 of the listed stocks advanced, while 37 retreated.
The best-performing stock was the Power and Water Utility Co. for Jubail and Yanbu, with its share price surging by 8.47 percent to SR31.24.
Other top performers included Saudi Paper Manufacturing Co., which saw its share price rise by 6.13 percent to SR53.70, and Jamjoom Pharmaceuticals Factory Co., which saw a 4.58 percent increase to SR137.
On the downside, the worst performer of the day was CHUBB Arabia Cooperative Insurance Co., whose share price fell by 5.14 percent to SR17.53.
Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Co. and Arabian Internet and Communications Services Co. also saw declines, with their shares dropping by 4.87 percent and 4.43 percent to SR4.88 and SR181.40, respectively.
On the announcement front, Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Co. announced its annual financial results for 2025, with sales dropping 3.06 percent year-on-year to SR8.45 billion. The company also recorded a net loss of SR893.86 million.
In a Tadawul statement, the company said the net loss and decline in annual sales were driven by a drop in average selling prices, despite higher sales volumes.
