Riyadh – Mubasher: The Saudi industrial production index (IPI) plummeted by 13.4% year-on-year (YoY) in July 2020, according to the monthly report of the General Authority for Statistics (GaStat).
This decline was mainly attributed to lower mining and quarrying production activity by 11.2%.
The kingdom reduced its oil production to 8.4 million barrels per day (b/d) in July 2020 from 9.5 million b/d in July 2019. Moreover, manufacturing activities shrank by 20.5% YoY in July as the coronavirus pandemic led many factories to reduce production operations.
Non-oil manufacturing activity tumbled by 20.5% YoY due to the decrease witnessed in most of the industrial activities.
The electrical equipment manufacturing activity declined by 57% YoY, while the clothing, and machinery and equipment manufacturing went down by 44.6% and 42.7% YoY, respectively. On the other hand, beverages manufacturing increased by 10.9% YoY.
Furthermore, electricity and gas supply activity fell by 3% annually.
Although the index’s performance improved by 10.2% monthly, it is still lower than the pre-pandemic levels, the report noted.
