Saudi economy shrank 3.8% in fourth quarter

DUBAI - Saudi Arabia's economy shrank by 3.8% in the fourth quarter from the same period a year earlier, preliminary government data showed on Wednesday, but it grew 2.8% on a quarterly basis.

The “flash estimates” for quarterly gross domestic product by Saudi Arabia’s General Authority for Statistics did not have a breakdown on how the oil and non-oil sectors performed in the three-month period to the end of December.

The economy of the world's top oil exporter contracted by 4.1% in 2020, according to the preliminary estimates, hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, lower crude prices and output cuts.