CAIRO: Spending by Saudis fell in the week ending Sept. 17, according to point of sale transactions data released by the Saudi Central Bank.
The education sector saw the biggest drop, falling 53.3 percent, the figures published by the bank, also known as SAMA, showed.
The Kingdom’s aggregate POS transactions shrunk by 3.3 percent last week, totaling SR10.2 billion ($2.72 billion), driven by the decrease in education spending, showed the data.
Of the 17 mentioned sectors, 11 saw a decline in their weekly POS in the week ending in Sept 17, with the aggregate week-by-week drop amounting to SR344.2 million.
The previous week had seen a SR2.9 billion fall across all 17 sectors.
Sector changes
- Miscellaneous goods and services — down SR55.2 million; previous week down SR279.7 million
- Food and beverages — down 46.2 million; previous week down SR510 million
- Restaurants and cafés — down SR34.2 million; previous week down SR206 million
- Furniture — up SR28.6 million; previous week down SR39.7 million
- Health — up SR19.6 million; previous week down SR128.4 million
- Construction and building material— up SR8.7 million; previous week down SR279.5 million
As for the number of POS transactions, they declined by around 125,000 last week compared to a 14.8 million fall the week before.
The decline was led by a 366,000 drop in the number of recreation and culture purchases, showed the SAMA data.
Jewelry sales, however, saw the largest increase, with POS transactions up 15 percent to SR30.4 million, after having dropped by S25.9 million the week before, according to SAMA.
Even though the value of food and beverage POS transactions dropped, the number of transactions actually rose by 258,000 last week.
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