Saudi Arabia's trade balance recorded a surplus of SR61.52 billion in the second quarter of 2026, an annual growth rate of 62%. Total merchandise exports rose 4% year on year to approximately SR285.98 billion while merchandise imports declined 5% to SR224.46 billion, according to GASTAT data.
Trade finance teams at Saudi banks should focus less on the 62% surplus growth and pay more attention to the 5% drop in imports, since their fees come from the part of the business that has decreased.
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Saudis stayed home instead
Domestic travel made up 46% of Almosafer's total bookings in the first seven months of 2026, with local bookings up 13% year on year and room nights up 44%. Room nights in Makkah and Madinah rose 53%, Red Sea room nights rose more than 4,000% against the same period last year, and the Red Sea recorded the highest average booking value of any destination Saudi travellers booked, ahead of Paris and London.
Even with regional tension, travellers kept moving. They changed their routes, and the destination that saw the most demand now has the highest average booking value in the market.
PIF's $2.4 billion half
Lucid announced $1.4 billion in identified cost cut as H1 2026 losses widened 50% to $2.4 billion from $1.6 billion a year earlier. H1 production was 10,274 vehicles against a full-year target of 25,000–27,000. Shares fell 9% after the announcement.
The second half now needs to roughly double the first, and $1.4 billion in cuts does not close a $2.4 billion gap on its own, production is the real test here, not the balance sheet.
The money is moving closer
Assets under management in Saudi reached SR1.244 trillion at the end of 2025, from SR612 billion in 2020, with listed companies up 89% to 392, foreign ownership doubling to SR417 billion, and net foreign purchases on the Saudi Exchange running $1.6 billion in Q2 2026.
Doubling AUM and foreign ownership within five years indicates a market that has shifted in ownership, not just in value. Foreign owners often pose different questions to management than domestic owners.
