RIYADH: Saudi Arabia's consumer spending rose 10 percent to SR97.9 billion ($26.1 billion) in February, up from SR88.6 billion a year earlier, on the back of rising point-of-sale transactions, the Saudi Central Bank, also known as SAMA, has revealed.
This was driven by a 15 percent rise in the Kingdom’s point-of-sale transactions, which amounted to SR44.8 billion by the end of February of this year, according to data from SAMA’s monthly bulletin.
February month saw the Kingdom's POS transactions reaching 633.2 million, which are made through ATMs and credit cards and processed through 1.51 million POS devices.
Nevertheless, consumer spending dipped 7 percent in February when compared to the previous month’s spending of SR105.19 billion.
POS transactions also fell that month from SR48 billion in January, showing a 7.9 percent drop month-on-month.
Cash withdrawals and e-commerce sales through Mada, the Saudi Payment Network, also contribute to the aggregate consumer spending in Saudi Arabia.
Cash withdrawals from ATMs witnessed a moderate rise of 0.2 percent year-on-year to reach SR41.7 billion in February.
Processed from approximately 16,200 ATMs, these withdrawals came through 117.6 million transactions that month, the SAMA data showed.
As for e-commerce sales through Mada cards, they spiked 41 percent to reach SR11.32 billion year-on-year in February.
The Mada card, a locally issued debit card, allows a cardholder to access funds in their accounts and functions like a regular ATM card.
The SAMA data revealed that the aforementioned sales were made through 58.6 million transactions that month.
As for January’s year-on-year increase in Mada card sales, it reached 42 percent to hit SR11.71 billion early this year.
When compared to January 2023, sales through Mada cards remained largely stable, according to the data.
E-commerce sales incorporate Mada cards payment and online purchase transactions but do not take credit card transactions, like Visa and Mastercard, into account.
