RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s electricity and gas supply sector grew by 21.5 percent in August compared to the same month last year, according to the General Authority of Statistics. The electricity and gas sector has consistently shown high annual expansion since the start of 2023. Factors contributing to this growth are the Kingdom’s investments in energy infrastructure, including constructing power generation plants, gas facilities and electricity distribution networks to meet growing demand. Saudi Arabia has also implemented energy efficiency measures to reduce wastage and encourage responsible energy consumption, increasing efficiency in the electricity and gas sectors. The latest data showed that the Kingdom’s manufacturing activity also reported an annual growth of 4.6 percent in August. However, the reduction in Saudi Arabia’s oil production to 8.85 million barrels per day in August caused an annual decrease in mining and quarrying activity by 19.3 percent. During its last policy meeting in June, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, known as OPEC+, had agreed on a deal to limit supply into 2024. Saudi Arabia then pledged a voluntary production cut for July, which was later extended until August. In September, the Kingdom announced that it is further extending its voluntary oil production cut of 1 million barrels per day until the end of the year. The GASTAT report released on Monday further pointed out that the overall industrial production index fell 12 percent despite an increase in the manufacturing, electricity and gas supply sectors. This decline is because the relative weights of the mining and quarrying, manufacturing and electricity and gas supply sectors in the IPI are 74.5 percent, 22.6 percent, and 2.9 percent, respectively. “The trend of the industrial production index in the mining and quarrying sector dominates the trend in the general IPI,” said GASTAT in its report released on Tuesday. Additionally, the manufacturing activity remained stable compared to July, while electricity and gas supplies saw a noteworthy increase of 11 percent compared to the earlier month. However, the mining and quarrying sector saw a marginal decline of 1.1 percent, resulting in an overall decrease of 0.3 percent in the IPI compared to July. IPI is an economic indicator that indicates the relative changes in industrial output volume. It is calculated using data from an industrial production survey.