RIYADH: In the week ending March 22, point-of-sale transactions in Saudi Arabia increased 6.3% to SR14.4 billion ($3.8 billion), with jewellery once again driving the increase. According to the most recent data from the Saudi Central Bank, or SAMA, sector spending saw the biggest increase in transaction value, rising 29.9% to SR544.4 million. Additionally, jewellery witnessed a 34.4 percent increase in sales, hitting 403,000.
With a 24.8 percent increase in transaction value to SR440 million, the hotel industry came in second. Following this, spending on apparel and footwear increased by 24.5 percent, accounting for the second-largest portion of POS transactions (SR1.87 billion). There were 12 million transactions overall, a 22.4 percent increase. The overall value of transactions reached SR1.5 billion, with spending in restaurants and cafes rising by 3.7 percent and transport spending increasing by 6.9 percent to SR950.8 million.
The construction and telecommunications industries saw the lowest increases in spending, increasing by 0.03 percent to SR308 million and 0.2 percent to SR114.8 million, respectively. After a 144.6 percent spike during the week of March 2–8, when students returned from winter vacation, spending on education had the sharpest reduction for the second consecutive week, falling 37.2 percent to SR88.2 million.
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