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Saudi Oil Pipeline Boosts Exports 37.4%, Trade Surplus Hits Highest Since 2022

Naval vessels at Yanbu port on the Red Sea (SPA) 
Naval vessels at Yanbu port on the Red Sea (SPA) 
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Saudi Oil Pipeline Boosts Exports 37.4%, Trade Surplus Hits Highest Since 2022

Naval vessels at Yanbu port on the Red Sea (SPA) 
Naval vessels at Yanbu port on the Red Sea (SPA) 

Saudi Arabia’s merchandise trade surplus surged to its highest level since 2022 in March, driven by strong momentum in oil exports, which rose 37.4%, while the East-West pipeline played a central role in improving the flexibility of crude flows to Red Sea ports, according to official data and an industry expert.

Strategic energy infrastructure helped the Kingdom improve export efficiency and diversify access points to global markets, the General Authority for Statistics said in its international merchandise trade bulletin published on Thursday.

The authority reported that the merchandise trade surplus jumped 218.9% year-on-year in March, marking its highest level since 2022, supported by robust growth in oil exports.

Mohammad al-Sabban, a former senior adviser to the Saudi oil minister, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the rise in the Kingdom’s oil exports in March demonstrated the success of long-term planning through the construction and rehabilitation of the East-West pipeline, which transports crude and petroleum products to the Red Sea port of Yanbu.

He noted that the pipeline had helped Saudi Arabia bypass risks linked to the Strait of Hormuz after remaining closed for extended periods in the past.

Al-Sabban added that the government built the pipeline in the mid-1980s in what proved to be a sound strategic decision, explaining that its current capacity has reached 7 million barrels per day.

He said the infrastructure had contributed to the 37.4% rise in oil exports, equivalent to around SAR100 billion ($26.66 billion), increasing the share of oil in total merchandise exports.

“Many countries have seen their exports shrink after the recent crisis, but with the East-West pipeline in place, the Kingdom was able to raise total merchandise exports,” he stated.

According to the statistics authority, the total value of Saudi merchandise exports reached about SAR115 billion ($30.66 billion) in March, up 21.5% from the same month in 2025.

The increase was driven mainly by a sharp rise in oil exports, which climbed 37.4% to SAR92.5 billion, raising their share of total exports to 80.3% from 71.0% a year earlier.

Non-oil exports, including re-exports, fell 17.3%, while national non-oil exports excluding re-exports declined 27.0% to SAR14 billion ($3.73 billion).

Re-exported goods rose 2.5%, supported by a 51.1% jump in exports of “machinery, electrical equipment and parts thereof,” which accounted for 62.4% of total re-exported goods.

Imports fell 24.8% year-on-year in March to SAR58 billion ($15.46 billion), the report showed.

The sharp decline in imports, combined with higher exports, increased the ratio of non-oil exports to imports to 39.3%, compared with 35.8% a year earlier.

The report indicated that “machinery, electrical equipment and parts thereof” remained the most influential category in non-oil exports, accounting for 27.4% of the total after rising 46.2%. The same category also ranked first among imports at 30.4%, despite an 11.9% decline.

China remained Saudi Arabia’s top trading partner, accounting for 14.1% of Saudi exports, followed by India at 13.7% and Japan at 9.5%. Exports to the Kingdom’s top 10 destinations represented 69.8% of total exports.

China also remained the Kingdom’s largest source of imports, accounting for 26.7% of the total, followed by the United States at 8.4% and the United Arab Emirates at 7.1%.

Jeddah Islamic Port remained the main entry point for imports into the Kingdom, handling 29.8% of total imports.

For non-oil exports, King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah ranked as the leading export gateway with a 23.4% share, followed by Jeddah Islamic Port at 21.2% and the Al-Batha land crossing at 8.2% of Saudi non-oil merchandise exports.

 

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Swiss and Chinese Reach Agreement on Updated Free Trade Deal

FILE PHOTO: A China yuan banknote featuring late Chinese chairman Mao Zedong and a computer keyboard are seen reflected on an image of Chinese flag in this illustration picture taken November 1, 2019. REUTERS/Florence Lo/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A China yuan banknote featuring late Chinese chairman Mao Zedong and a computer keyboard are seen reflected on an image of Chinese flag in this illustration picture taken November 1, 2019. REUTERS/Florence Lo/Illustration/File Photo
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Swiss and Chinese Reach Agreement on Updated Free Trade Deal

FILE PHOTO: A China yuan banknote featuring late Chinese chairman Mao Zedong and a computer keyboard are seen reflected on an image of Chinese flag in this illustration picture taken November 1, 2019. REUTERS/Florence Lo/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A China yuan banknote featuring late Chinese chairman Mao Zedong and a computer keyboard are seen reflected on an image of Chinese flag in this illustration picture taken November 1, 2019. REUTERS/Florence Lo/Illustration/File Photo

Switzerland and China have completed negotiations on an updated free trade deal which will increase Swiss access to its third biggest trading partner, Swiss officials said on Thursday.

Swiss president Guy Parmelin and China's Commerce Minister Wang Wentao announced the conclusion of the talks after a meeting in Bern.

Under the agreement, 99.8% of Swiss exports can enter the Chinese market duty free, upgrading an existing deal where the terms applied to only around half of Swiss shipments, Reuters reported.

Almost all Chinese exports to Switzerland are duty free under the existing 2014 free trade agreement between the two countries, Beijing's first such deal with an economy in continental Europe.

Other areas covered in the new agreement include rules of origin and trade facilitation, trade in services, digital trade, competition, and economic and technical cooperation.

China is Switzerland's third biggest trade partner after Germany and the United States, with bilateral trade amounting to 46 billion Swiss francs ($57.6 billion) so far in 2026.

Trade between the two countries has expanded from 31.7 billion francs in 2015 to 51.2 billion francs last year, according to figures from the Swiss customs office, with China a big market for Swiss chemicals, pharmaceuticals, precision instruments and watches.

Once the legal review has been completed, a signing of the deal is expected later this year, before the domestic approval processes in each country take place.

Business

US Unemployment Claims Dropped to 206,000 Last Week with Layoffs Still Sparse

A "now hiring" sign is displayed on a local business after, US employment growth slowed more than expected in July, in Encinitas, California, US August 1, 2025. REUTERS/Mike Blake
A "now hiring" sign is displayed on a local business after, US employment growth slowed more than expected in July, in Encinitas, California, US August 1, 2025. REUTERS/Mike Blake
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US Unemployment Claims Dropped to 206,000 Last Week with Layoffs Still Sparse

A "now hiring" sign is displayed on a local business after, US employment growth slowed more than expected in July, in Encinitas, California, US August 1, 2025. REUTERS/Mike Blake
A "now hiring" sign is displayed on a local business after, US employment growth slowed more than expected in July, in Encinitas, California, US August 1, 2025. REUTERS/Mike Blake

Fewer people applied for US unemployment benefits last week, another sign that layoffs remain low and that most Americans enjoy job security.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that jobless claims dropped to 206,000 last week from a revised 212,000 the week before. The four-week average of claims, which smooths out week-to-week ups and downs, ticked up to 204,000 last week from 199,750.

Claims for jobless benefits are a proxy for layoffs, and economists watch them because they can be a harbinger for where the job market is headed. For the past year, claims have been at a historically low range of around 200,000 to 230,000 a week.

“The labor market has yet to show any sign of wear and tear from the surge in oil prices since the start of the war with Iran and the global energy supply shock,” Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics, wrote in a commentary, The AP news reported.

The number of people collecting unemployment benefits the week that ended Aug. 8 rose to 1.8 million from 1.78 million the week before.

The US unemployment rate is low at 4.1%, partly because the economy has proved resilient in the face of higher energy prices. But it’s also because President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown and the ongoing retirement of baby boomers mean that fewer people are competing for jobs: More than 1.3 million people have dropped out of the US labor force over the past year.

The job market is tough for those looking for their first job and for those who lost their jobs and are looking for new work. At the same time, companies, remembering the worker shortages that followed the end of COVID-19 lockups, are still reluctant to let go of staff; but they aren’t eager to take on new workers. Economists regularly refer to a “no hire, no fire″ job market.

In July, companies, government agencies and nonprofits together cut 23,000 jobs. So far this year, employers are adding 61,000 jobs a month. That is an improvement on the 9,700 they averaged last year — the weakest hiring outside a recession since 2002. The lingering effects of high interest rates and Trump’s erratic trade policies discouraged companies from hiring in 2025.

Hiring this year remains well below the 166,00 monthly jobs created, on average, in 2023 and 2024, let alone the 491,000 a month recorded during the 2021-2022 hiring boom that followed pandemic lockdowns.

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IMF Welcomes Lebanon Bank Law Changes as 'Major Step' 

Lebanese Central Bank headquarters in Beirut (Reuters)
Lebanese Central Bank headquarters in Beirut (Reuters)
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IMF Welcomes Lebanon Bank Law Changes as 'Major Step' 

Lebanese Central Bank headquarters in Beirut (Reuters)
Lebanese Central Bank headquarters in Beirut (Reuters)

The International Monetary Fund has welcomed the Lebanese parliament's passing of amendments to a bank resolution law as a major step, but challenges to implementing the law could further delay recovery for an economy battered by years of financial collapse and the conflict with Israel.

The reforms are among the IMF's requirements for Lebanon to access funding to bring government debt out of default after decades of profligate spending by the country's ruling elite, sending the economy into a tailspin in late 2019. Banks imposed sweeping capital controls, locking depositors out of their savings, and stopped issuing loans.

In January the IMF had demanded changes to the draft rescue law, Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam told Reuters at the time.

Now, the bank resolution law aims to address vast funding shortfalls in the financial system and is among a set of measures that ultimately aim to fix the banking sector and allow depositors who have been frozen out of their savings to gradually recover their money.

“We met 99% of what they wanted,” legislator Alain Aoun, who sits on Parliament’s Finance and Budget Committee, told Reuters.

The most notable amendments to the law include changes to the Central Bank’s governance procedures. The makeup of the Higher Banking Commission – a governing body within the Central Bank — will be altered, Aoun said. The amendments empower the body to “decide the fate of Lebanon’s banks,” and would determine if a bank requires restructuring or liquidation and any further steps to rehabilitate it.

Federico Lima, the IMF representative in Lebanon, said on Wednesday that the "effective implementation of this new bank resolution framework is critical."

"In addition, we are continuing discussions with the Lebanese authorities on the improvements needed to align the draft Financial Stabilization and Depositor Recovery (FSDR) law with international principles," he added.

In 2022, the government put losses from the financial crisis at about $70 billion, a figure that analysts and economists forecast is now likely to be higher.

Last week, the parliament passed amendments to the law, but it would still be pending approval by the Lebanese president.

The possibility of members challenging the law before the Constitutional Council — which has precedent for annulling provisions of earlier financial legislation — could also bring further delays.

The draft had already undergone several rewrites because of competing demands from different financial institutions; the IMF called on Lebanon to improve the law to bring it in line with international standards and consider tax reforms to spark public spending on reconstruction efforts.

The World Bank ranks the Lebanese economic crisis among the worst globally since the mid-19th century. Depositors were frozen out of dollar accounts and the Lebanese pound fell by more than 90%. Additionally, the war with Israel was estimated to have caused $7 billion in damages.

"This is the only country in the world that has had a banking crises for seven years and has not tried to find a solution," a senior Lebanese official told Reuters. "Staying where we are shouldn't be an option."