Commenting on the latest economic data, John Sfakianakis, director of economic research at the Gulf Research Center, told Arab News: “The economy is in a slow growth cycle given the contraction in real government output and near zero private sector expansion. Prospects of higher growth will depend on the fiscal profile as well as confidence and investments from the private sector.”
James Reeve, deputy chief economist and assistant general manager at Samba Financial Group. said: “The outlook for the rest of the year remains subdued, but we expect the economy to gather pace in 2017.”
Reeve added: “These figures seem to accurately reflect the state of the economy in the first quarter. The oil sector’s expansion was driven by increasing crude production as the authorities attempted to increase the Kingdom’s market share. This was the main reason why GDP was positive. The government’s shrinking output reflected the necessary fiscal consolidation which is ongoing.”
He said: “The private sector expanded, but only marginally, reflecting decent retails sales (volume) growth, but not much else.”

Source: Arab News