RIYADH: From June 30 to July 6, Saudi Arabia’s point-of-sale spending climbed by 7.7 percent to SR13.2 billion ($3.51 billion), with hotel payments accounting for the largest increase, per official data. The transaction value in this sector, which makes up just 0.39 percent of all payments, increased 17.9 percent to reach SR259.7 million, according to the most recent report from the Saudi Central Bank, or SAMA
The week starting on June 23 saw a rebound in point-of-sale (POS) spending in the Kingdom following a decline to SR8.34 billion over the previous seven days, which coincided with the Eid al-Adha holiday.
In an interview with Arab News, economist Talat Hafiz, who is based in Saudi Arabia, clarified that “spending is usually less during such vacations,” since Saudis spend more money on the Hajj than they would on regular days when they visit restaurants and shopping centres for entertainment. Spending on education increased by 14.1% to SR113 million in the week starting June 30, according to data from SAMA. This was the second-highest increase in the previous week’s spending.
Third-place spending on other products and services accounted for the third-highest percentage of the POS, rising by 10.1 percent to SR1.76 billion. With the largest percentage of the POS going towards food and drink, Saudi spending increased by 8.8% to SR2.05 billion from SR1.88 billion the week before.
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