RIYADH: The total trade in goods and services between Saudi Arabia and the UK increased 65.8 percent to 18.5 billion pounds ($22.5 billion) in the year ending March 2023 compared to the corresponding period last year.
According to the UK’s Department for Business and Trade, the country’s exports to Saudi Arabia increased 47.8 percent to 12.9 billion pounds in the year ending March compared to the year-ago timeframe.
The UK’s total imports from the Kingdom surged 131 percent to 5.5 billion pounds during the period under review.
The department said the Kingdom was the UK’s 21st largest trading partner in the year ending March, accounting for 1.1 percent of total UK trade.
The report further stated that UK exports to Saudi Arabia in the year ending March constituted mechanical power generators, cars, medicinal and pharmaceutical products as well as jewelry and general industrial machinery.
UK’s imports from Saudi Arabia included refined oil, other components of mechanical power generators, crude oil, non-ferrous metals and plastics in primary forms.
In the 12 months leading up to August 2023, UK exports of goods to Saudi Arabia increased by 43.5 percent compared to the corresponding period of the previous year. In contrast, UK imports of goods from Saudi Arabia increased by 8.5 percent over the same period.
In the first quarter of this year, UK exports of services to Saudi Arabia increased by 50.4 percent when compared to the end of the first quarter in 2022. UK imports of services from Saudi Arabia increased by 66.4 percent in the same period.
The top five services imported and exported between the two countries were travel, financial, telecommunications, computer and information services, maintenance and repair, and other business services.
In 2022, the three UK regions with the highest volume of goods imported from Saudi Arabia were Greater London, the South East, and the South West of England. Regarding goods exported to Saudi Arabia, the top regions were the North West, the South East, and the South West of England.
The report went on to say that Saudi Arabia was the 17th largest economy in 2022 in terms of gross domestic product.
