Saudi consumer spending rebounds 31% to $4.1bn

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s consumer spending jumped to above $4 billion in the week ending Oct. 31, rebounding from two straight weekly declines, as education-related transactions surged more than 80 percent, official data showed.

The Kingdom’s point-of-sale transaction value totaled SR15.41 billion ($4.1 billion), up 30.8 percent from the previous week, while the number of transactions rose 15.6 percent to 264.93 million, according to data released by the Saudi Central Bank, also known as SAMA.

The increase followed back-to-back weekly falls, with spending down 6.8 percent in the week ending Oct. 17 and 6.5 percent in the week ending Oct. 24.