Saudi Arabia: Education spending in Saudi Arabia increased by 3.6 percent in the week ending July 26, driving total point-of-sale transactions to SR11.87 billion ($3.16 billion), even as most other sectors saw declines.

Total POS value remained above the $3 billion mark for the fifth consecutive week despite a 2.7 percent weekly drop, underscoring the resilience of consumer activity across the Kingdom, according to data from the Saudi Central Bank, also known as SAMA.

The education sector recorded SR111.18 million in transaction value, with the number of transactions slipping 4.1 percent to 140,000, while overall POS transactions across all sectors declined 2.9 percent to 206.46 million. The hotels sector saw a 1.3 percent increase to SR291.07 million.

On July 29, the Saudi Cabinet approved the new statistics law, enhancing the Kingdom’s POS reporting with more detailed retail market insights. This update introduces refined subcategories in POS data, improving transparency and supporting data-driven decision-making in line with Vision 2030.

According to SAMA’s bulletin, the subcategory of books and stationery saw the largest decrease, dropping by 5.8 percent to SR98.11 million. Spending on airlines ranked next, dropping 5.6 percent to SR65.20 million.

Food and beverages, the sector with the biggest share of total POS value, recorded a 1.8 percent decrease to SR1.70 billion, while the restaurants and cafes sector saw a 2.4 percent decrease, totaling SR1.55 billion and claiming the second-biggest share of this week’s POS.

Spending on transportation ranked third despite a 2.2 percent decline to SR945.76 million.

The top three categories accounted for approximately 35.3 percent of the week’s total spending, amounting to SR4.19 billion.

The smallest decline was seen in spending on freight transport, postal and courier services which decreased by 0.9 percent to SR36.13 million, followed by expenditure on telecommunication, which saw a 1 percent dip to SR131.86 million.

Geographically, Riyadh dominated POS transactions, with expenses in the capital reaching SR4.1 billion, a 2.7 percent decrease from the previous week.

Jeddah followed closely with a 3.1 percent dip to SR1.70 billion, while Dammam ranked third, down 2.8 percent to SR566.81 million.

Al-Jubail saw the smallest increase, inching up 0.6 percent to SR123.04 million, followed by Al-Baha with a 0.7 percent increase to SR76.12 million.

Hail recorded 3.54 million deals in transaction volume, down 3.2 percent from the previous week, while Tabuk reached 3.93 million transactions, dropping 4.3 percent.