The Saudi trade balance surplus achieved its highest level since December 2018 last July.
Official data stated that the trade balance surplus is at its highest level in 31 months recording 46.1 billion riyals due to the jump in oil revenues.
Oil and non-oil exports amounted to 91.8 billion riyals, compared to imports worth 45.6 billion riyals.
Trade balance
Merchandise foreign trade amounted to 137.4 billion riyals during the same month, an increase of 50% over the same month of 2020, which amounted to 91.4 billion riyals.
The trade balance surplus jumped by 328% from the same month of 2020, amounting to 10.9 billion riyals, according to Joint Organisations Data Initiative (JODI).
The surplus registration and the rise in foreign trade comes with the easing of restrictions to confront the Coronavirus pandemic globally and the gradual return of economic activity supported by the financial stimulus programs that the state provided to the private sector.
Revenues from Saudi oil exports jumped during July, on an annual basis, by 112.1%, equivalent to 37.5 billion riyals, to reach 71 billion riyals, compared to 33.5 billion riyals in July 2020, as a result of the recovery in oil prices, after it collapsed. In the period compared to the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Oil export revenues in July are the highest in 32 months (since November 2018).
Oil prices rose last July on an annual basis, by 72%, as the average price of Brent crude reached $43.2 per barrel in July 2020, while it rose to $74.3 per barrel in the same month of 2021.
Oil revenue
The increase in Saudi oil export revenues last July came at a higher rate than the rise in oil prices, as a result of the increase in the quantities of oil exports.
According to JODI, Saudi oil exports rose during last July by 10.3% on an annual basis, to reach about 6.33 million barrels per day in July 2021, compared to about 5.73 million barrels in the same month in the previous year 2020.
