Public contracts awarded by Saudi Arabia jumped by nearly 47 percent in the first half of 2024 mainly due to a sharp rise in oil deals, according to an economic report.

The value of the awarded contracts stood at around 185 billion Saudi riyals ($49.3 billion) in the first half compared with nearly SAR126 billion ($33.6 billion) in the first half of 2023, showed the report by the US-Saudi Business Council (USBC).

The report, published by the Saudi daily Al-Watan on Wednesday, showed oil and gas deals accounted for nearly 41 percent of the total awarded contracts in the first quarter, with a value of about SAR 27.3 billion ($7.28 billion).

“The contracts awarded in the oil sector led the increase in total awarded contracts in the first and second quarters of 2024,” the report said without mentioning the value of contracts in the oil sector in the second quarter.

Total awarded contracts stood at SAR270 billion ($72 billion) during 2023, nearly SAR182 billion ($48.5 billion) in 2022 and SAR142 billion ($37.8 billion) in 2021.

(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)

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