Saudi Arabia has seen a significant increase in the number of businesses setting up in the kingdom, according to official data.

In its latest bulletin, the Ministry of Commerce said Saudi Arabia recorded 95,000 commercial registrations during the last three months of 2023, up by 23% over the same period last year.

The registrations logged in the last quarter brought the total number of existing commercial records in the kingdom to more than 1.3 million by the end of 2023.

The youth category accounted for more than a third (38.6%) of the commercial registrations by the end of the quarter last year.

The report also highlighted the expansion of Saudi’s e-commerce sector, with the number registrations reaching more than 37,000 by the end of the fourth quarter of 2023, up by 24%.

At least five regions in the kingdom have shown significant e-commerce activity, led by Riyadh, which accounted for 15,074 e-commerce registers, followed by Makkah (9,529), Eastern Province (6,011), Madinah (1,839) and Al Qassim (1,259).

(Writing by Cleofe Maceda; editing by Brinda Darasha)

(brinda.darasha@lseg.com)