RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Industrial Production Index increased by 16.8 percent in August compared to the same period a year ago, according to the latest General Authority for Statistics report. The growth in IPI was primarily driven by high production in the three subsectors — mining and quarrying, manufacturing, and electricity and gas supplies, official data showed. The growth of the IPI turned positive in May 2021, and it has been growing continuously since then. This comes after negative trends witnessed during 2019 and 2020 due to the impacts of the pandemic. IPI is an economic indicator that reflects the relative changes in the volume of industrial output, according to GASTAT. According to the report, mining and quarrying grew by 15.5 percent in August from a year ago as the Kingdom increased its oil production to its highest level by more than 11 million barrels per day in August 2022. When compared with July 2022, mining and quarrying witnessed a month-on-month growth of 2.2 percent in IPI activity, showed the data. The report further noted that the manufacturing activity increased by 22 percent compared to the same month of the previous year, while electricity and gas supplies increased by 11.3 percent. Compared with the previous month, manufacturing activity recorded month-on-month growth of 3.9 percent in August, while electricity and gas grew by 10.6 percent. Even though Saudi Arabia’s IPI is still showing positive trends, its growth has slowed down for the fourth month in a row from a 26.7 year-on-year growth recorded in April 2022. The Kingdom’s IPI growth at 16.8 percent in August has been the slowest since January of this year when industrial production grew by 11.1 percent year-on-year. The GASTAT report showed that the IPI in Saudi Arabia amounted to 139.1 in August, the highest since June of 2018 when the index totaled 141.1. Mining and quarrying witnessed an IPI growth of 135.8 in August, the highest since November 2018 when it amounted to 135.9. While the IPI of manufacturing, and electricity and gas amounted to 147.8 and 155.8 respectively, showed the report. The former last reached this peak in September 2019 at 150.4, whereas the latter reached this peak prior to 2018, as shown by GASTAT data.