Saudi Arabia attracted nearly 81.3 billion Saudi riyals ($21.6 billion) worth of industrial investment in 2021 as it is pursuing a drive to ease reliance on volatile oil sales and diversify sources of income, according to official data released on Wednesday. 

The Gulf Kingdom, the world’s largest oil exporter, also issued 775 mining permits through 2021 after it began enforcing a new law intended to attract private capital into its mining sector, which officials estimated at around $1.3 trillion. 

In a report, the Industry and Mineral Resources Ministry said the 2021 investments boosted the total capital in the non-oil industrial sector to 1.338 trillion riyals ($356 billion). 

The report showed the Ministry issued 945 industrial permits in 2021 and that 820 of the factories began operation in the same year. 
The Ministry also issued 775 mining permits last year, boosting the total number of permits in this sector to 2100 at the end of 2021, the report said. 

(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)
(anoop.menon@lseg.com)

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