Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — Saudi Arabia's Industrial Production Index (IPI) recorded an increase of 2.1 percent during December 2024 compared to the same period in 2023. The increase was driven mainly by growth in manufacturing, water supply, sewerage, and waste management and treatment activities, according to the IPI statistics, released by the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) on Monday.

The industrial production index for December 2024 showed a 0.4 percent year-on-year decrease in the mining and quarrying sub-index, due to a decrease in oil production during December to 8.91 million barrels per day, compared to 8.94 million barrels per day for the same month in 2023. Mining activity also decreased by 0.2 percent compared to November 2024.

On the other hand, the manufacturing sub-index increased by 6.3 percent in December on an annual basis, supported by an increase in the coke and refined petroleum products manufacturing activity by 9.3 percent, and the chemicals and chemical products manufacturing activity by 4.8percent. The manufacturing industry index performance increased by 5.1 percent on a monthly basis.

The oil activities index also increased by 1.3 percent year-on-year in December 2024. The non-oil activities index increased by 4 percent, supported by an increase in all non-oil economic activities except for the electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply activity.

The sub-index for electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply activity recorded a decrease of 1.9 percent, while the sub-index for water supply, sanitation, waste management and treatment activity increased by 0.8 percent, compared to December 2023.

GASTAT publishes the IPI monthly as an economic indicator that reflects changes in the volume of industrial output, calculated from the industrial production survey.