RIYADH: Despite a drop in transactions, Saudi Arabia’s point-of-sale spending increased 4.5% to SR14.5 billion ($3.8 billion) in the week ended February 28. The Saudi Central Bank, or SAMA, released its most recent data, which shows that the overall number of transactions decreased by 4.6% to 210.53 million during that time.
The biggest increase was in freight transportation and postal services, which increased by 50.4% to SR121.35 million. Clothing and apparel came next, up 44.2 percent to SR1.9 billion. Transactions for books and stationery increased 8.3 percent, while those for personal care increased 21.7 percent. Additionally, hotel receipts rose 11.1% to SR376.26 million.
Medical services increased by 10.2 percent to SR531.56 million, while pharmacies and medical supplies had a 23.5 percent increase to SR254.51 million. Even though food and beverage purchases still made up the greatest portion of POS activity, they fell 11.4 percent to SR2.33 billion. Cafes and restaurants were next, down 1.8% to SR1.22 billion.
The major cities of the Kingdom mirrored the general pattern. With the highest portion of POS activity, Riyadh saw a 2.5 percent increase to SR4.86 billion from SR4.75 billion the week before. The capital saw 65.7 million transactions, a 5.9 percent decrease from the previous week.
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