GDP recovery

Saudi Arabia’s economic output began to recover in the first quarter of 2018 after shrinking for the first time in eight years during 2017 because of cuts in oil output.

Gross domestic product, adjusted for inflation, grew 1.2 per cent from a year earlier in the first three months of 2018, the statistics agency said yesterday.

It had dropped from a year earlier in every quarter of 2017 as a global price-supporting agreement among oil exporting countries caused Saudi Arabia to cut back in its oil output. For 2017, GDP shrank 0.7 per cent. The impact faded at the start of 2018 after Saudi Arabia completed the required cuts.