Overview: The petroleum sector accounts for roughly 75% of budget revenues, 35% of GDP, and almost all export earnings. Saudi Arabia has the largest reserves of petroleum in the world, ranks as the largest exporter of petroleum, and plays a leading role in OPEC. For the 1990s the government intends to bring its budget, which has been in deficit since 1983, back into balance, and to encourage private economic activity. Roughly four million foreign workers play an important role in the Saudi economy, for example, in the oil and banking sectors. For about a decade, Saudi Arabia's domestic and international outlays have outstripped its income, and the government has cut its foreign assistance and is beginning to rein in domestic programs.

National product: GDP - purchasing power equivalent - $194 billion (1993 est.)

National product real growth rate: 1% (1993 est.)

National product per capita: $11,000 (1993 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 1% (1993 est.)

Unemployment rate: 6.5% (1992 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $39 billion
expenditures: $50 billion, including capital expenditures of $7.5 billion (1993 est.)

Exports: $42.3 billion (f.o.b., 1993 est.)
commodities: petroleum and petroleum products 92%
partners: US 21%, Japan 18%, Singapore 6%, France 6%, Korea 5%

Imports: $26 billion (f.o.b., 1993 est.)
commodities: machinery and equipment, chemicals, foodstuffs, motor vehicles, textiles
partners: US 18%, UK 12%, Japan 10%, Germany 5%, France 5%

External debt: $18.9 billion (December 1989 est., includes short-term trade credits)

Industrial production: growth rate 20% (1991 est.); accounts for 46% of GDP, including petroleum

Electricity:
capacity: 28,554,000 kW
production: 63 billion kWh
consumption per capita: 3,690 kWh (1992)

Industries: crude oil production, petroleum refining, basic petrochemicals, cement, two small steel-rolling mills, construction, fertilizer, plastics

Agriculture: accounts for about 10% of GDP, 16% of labor force; subsidized by government; products - wheat, barley, tomatoes, melons, dates, citrus fruit, mutton, chickens, eggs, milk; approaching self-sufficiency in food

Illicit drugs: death penalty for traffickers; increasing consumption of heroin and cocaine

Economic aid:
donor: pledged bilateral aid (1979-89), $64.7 billion; pledged $100 million in 1993 to fund reconstruction of Lebanon

Currency: 1 Saudi riyal (SR) = 100 halalah
Exchange rates: Saudi riyals (SR) per US$1 - 3.7450 (fixed rate since late 1986), 3.7033 (1986)

Fiscal year: calendar year

NOTE: The information regarding Saudi Arabia on this page is re-published from the 1995 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Saudi Arabia Economy 1995 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Saudi Arabia Economy 1995 should be addressed to the CIA.