Consumer Spending through POS Declines in Past Week in KSA
Consumer spending through points of sale (POS) in Saudi Arabia declined during the past week ending on February 20 by 5.8%, compared to the previous week ending on February 13th.
According to the monitoring unit of the reports in Al-Eqtisadiah newspaper, based on data from the Central Bank of Saudi Arabia, “SAMA”, consumer spending during the week ending on February 20 amounted to about 7.19 billion riyals, compared to 7.63 billion riyals for the previous week, with a difference of 442.8 million riyals.
Thus, consumer spending through POS recorded a decline for the third consecutive week after the previous week’s decline by 10.8%, and the period includes the validity of the Ministry of Interior’s decision to stop entertainment activities and all events and parties, as well as the closure of cinemas at different periods, which coincided with the increase in the number of Covid-19 cases.
Consumer spending via POS for the past week ending February 20 was the lowest weekly spending since the end of October last year.
Regarding the performance of the sectors compared to the previous week, the majority of sectors declined by varying proportions, the most of which was in the education sector, which recorded a decline for the fourth consecutive week, while we find a lonely increase in sales of POS, and it was in the jewelry sector.
The jewelry sector recorded a growth of 4.5%, with sales amounting to 262.9 million riyals, the highest sales of the sector through POS in 6 weeks.
Meanwhile, the education sector led the declines in spending among the sectors after spending through POS reached 82.6 million riyals, down 21.4% compared to the previous week, recording a decline for the fourth consecutive week. We also find a decline in spending in the clothing and shoes sector by about 9.7%.
Regarding the sectors that spend the most in terms of percentage, sales of the food and beverage sector decreased, which constitutes 16.3% of total sales of POS devices, to record a decline of 7.1%, with sales amounting to 1.16 billion riyals, while the sales of restaurants and cafes sector decreased through POS by about 5% to reach 841.7 million riyals, recording the lowest weekly spending since the end of last July.
In addition, the number of transactions executed via POS devices decreased during the past week by 3.9%, to reach about 75.59 million operations for all sectors, compared to 78.65 million operations for the previous week.
