Riyadh – Mubasher: The Industrial Production Index of Saudi Arabia decreased by 6.9% year-on-year (YoY) in January 2021, according to a recent report by the Saudi General Authority for Statistics (GaStat).
The annual decline was attributed to lower production in mining and quarrying activity which fell by 6.2%.
Saudi Arabia reduced its oil production from 9.7 million barrels per day (bpd) in January 2020 to 9.1 million bpd in January this year.
Manufacturing activities plunged 10.6% in January 2021 on an annual basis, as the COVID-19 pandemic led many factories to reduce production operations.
In addition, the index was 7% below its level in February 2020, before the pandemic started.
GaStat also presented December 2020 results, when the index dropped 7.6% compared to the same month in 2019. This was mainly due to the fall in mining and quarrying activity output.
The Kingdom has reduced its oil production from 9.5 million bpd in December 2019 to 8.9 million bpd in December 2020.
At the end of last year, manufacturing activities retreated by 13.1% annually. The Industrial Production Index was 8% below its level in February 2020.
