Saudi Arabia’s net foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows reached SAR22.2bn ($5.9bn) in the first quarter of 2025, marking a 44 per cent increase compared to the same period in 2024, according to new data released by the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT).
Despite the strong year-on-year growth, the figure represented a 7 per cent decline from Q4 2024.
The report also highlighted that FDI inflows into the Kingdom totalled SR24bn ($6.4bn) in Q1 2025 — a 24 per cent increase from SR19.4bn ($5.2bn) in Q1 2024.
Saudi investment boom
However, this was 6 per cent lower than inflows recorded in Q4 2024.
At the same time, FDI outflows from Saudi Arabia dropped significantly to SR1.8bn ($480m), representing a 54 per cent decline from Q1 2024, but a 7 per cent increase compared to the previous quarter.
The Authority also reported Saudi unemployment falling to 7.6 per cent, down from 8.4 per cent, with male unemployment sliding from 5.1 per cent to 4.7 per cent and female easing from 14.3 per cent to 13 per cent.
The labour force participation rate for Saudis stood at 47.6 per cent, with 66.6 per cent for males and 35.4 per cent for females, while the employment-to-population ratio was 92.4 per cent.
The data showed that the majority of job seekers are in the 20-29 age group, with the highest numbers in:
- Riyadh
- Makkah
- Eastern Province
- Aseer
- Qassim
Follow us on
