Saudi Arabia: Downturn gathers pace

The economic downturn in Saudi Arabia may be gathering momentum, with signs that activity contracted at a faster pace in Q3 2017 than in Q2 17. London-based Capital Economics’ GDP Tracker – which is based on monthly activity data – indicates the oil sector contracted by around 5% year-on-year in September and by 4% over Q3 17 as a whole, due to oil production cuts agreed via the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec). However, non-oil activity shows signs of life.