RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s point-of-sale transactions dipped in the first week of September, dropping by 4.9 percent from the previous week to reach SR13.3 billion ($3.5 billion), with the education sector leading the decline.

The latest figures from the Saudi Central Bank, also known as SAMA, showed that spending in the education sector led the dip, recording the highest decrease at 43.6 percent, with total transactions reaching SR350 million.

This week marks the third time in a row the education sector witnessed a decrease in spending after surging for four consecutive weeks, coinciding with the start of the academic year on Aug. 18.

During the first week of September, spending on public utilities saw the second-largest decline at 25.1 percent to SR59 million.

Spending on culture and recreation recorded the third biggest dip with a 12.2 percent negative change, reaching SR293.4 million. 

Expenditure on miscellaneous goods and services recorded the smallest decline at 0.7 percent, reaching SR1.57 billion during this period. 

Saudis spent SR209.8 million on electronic and electric devices and SR1.92 billion at restaurants and cafes. These two sectors experienced the second and third smallest declines, dropping 0.8 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively.

Looking at the biggest value of transactions this week, the food and beverages sector saw the biggest share of the POS at SR2.10 billion, followed by restaurants and cafes and miscellaneous goods and services.

Spending in the top three categories accounted for 41.98 percent or SR5.6 billion of this week’s total value.

The most significant increase, at 7.8 percent, occurred in spending on jewelry, boosting the total to SR247.8 million. Expenditures on furniture came in second place, surging by 5.4 percent to SR309.3 million. In third place, hotel spending increased by 3 percent to SR245.3 million.

Geographically, Riyadh dominated POS transactions, representing 34.1 percent of the total, with spending in the capital reaching SR4.55 billion — a 4.6 percent decrease from the previous week. 

Jeddah followed with a 5 percent decline to SR1.82 billion, accounting for 13.6 percent of the total, and Dammam came in third at SR662.1 million, down 4.2 percent.

Tabuk saw the most significant decrease in spending, down by 9.9 percent to SR265 million. Buraidah and Abha also experienced downsticks, with expenditure dipping 7.9 percent and 7.7 percent to SR309.1 million and SR176.5 million, respectively.

In terms of the number of transactions, Makkah recorded the highest increase at 1.9 percent, reaching 8,613. Tabouk recorded the highest decrease at 2.7 percent, reaching 4,850 transactions.

LONDON: Oil climbed more than 1 percent on Wednesday, paring some of the previous day’s losses, as a drop in US crude inventories and concern about Hurricane Francine disrupting US output countered concerns about weak global demand.

US crude stocks fell by 2.793 million barrels, gasoline declined by 513,000 barrels and distillates inventories rose by 191,000 barrels, according to market sources citing the latest week’s American Petroleum Institute figures on Tuesday.

Brent crude futures were up $1.46, or 2.11 percent, to $70.65 a barrel at 12:38 p.m. Saudi time, while US crude futures gained $1.55, or 2.36 percent, to $67.30.

“The API provided some comfort as it showed a sizable decline in crude oil stocks, a forecast-beating draw in gasoline and a tiny build in distillate inventories,” said Tamas Varga of oil broker PVM.

Both oil benchmarks tanked on Tuesday, with Brent falling below $70 to its lowest since December 2021 and US crude dropping to its lowest since May 2023, after OPEC revised down its 2024 oil demand growth forecast for a second time.

Concern about Hurricane Francine disrupting output in the US, the world’s biggest producer, also lent support, other analysts said.

“The market rebounded autonomously as Tuesday’s drop was substantial,” said Yuki Takashima, economist at Nomura Securities, adding supply disruption fears from Francine also lent support.

About 24 percent of crude production and 26 percent of natural gas output in the US Gulf of Mexico were offline due to the storm, the US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said on Tuesday.

Following Tuesday’s report from the API, an industry group, official inventory figures from the US government are due out at 5:30 p.m. Saudi time.

Eleven analysts polled by Reuters estimated on average that crude inventories rose by about 1 million barrels and gasoline stocks fell by 0.1 million barrels.