Saudi Arabia awarded projects worth around 45.2 billion Saudi riyals ($12 billion) in the first quarter of 2020, nearly 28 percent higher than the value of contracts awarded in the fourth quarter of 2019, a local newspaper reported on Thursday.

The value of contracts this year is nearly 8 percent below those awarded in the first quarter of 2019, Okaz daily said, citing a report by the US-Saudi Business Council.

The report gave no breakdown of the projects but said that oil and gas, petrochemicals and military industries accounted for nearly 76 percent of the value of awarded contracts in the first quarter of 2020.

"The contracts awarded by the Kingdom in the first quarter of this year were higher in number and value than in the last quarter of 2019 but they are expected to slow down through 2020 because of the spread of coronavirus," the report said.

(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@refinitiv.com)

#Saudi Arabia #Oil and gas #Petrochemicals #Industrial

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