High commercial records in the domestic retail sector 10% over 3 months

The number of commercial records of establishments operating in the Saudi retail sector increased by 10 per cent during the first quarter, equivalent to 15,844, according to the Ministry of Trade and Investment.
The total number of such records at the end of the first quarter of this year was about 173141 records, compared with 157297 records by the end of last year.
The retail sector is one of the vital sectors in the Kingdom, an engine of the economy in general and an attractive market for investment, amounting to 375 billion riyals.
The number of jobs in this sector is expected to rise to 2.5 million by the end of 2030 from the current 1.5 million jobs.
Saudi Arabia's Emiratisation plan has helped increase the number of citizens working in the retail, corporate and commercial market by 30 per cent in 2018 to 252,000 from 208,000 in 2017.
According to statistics, the 262,000 Saudis accounted for 49.8 percent of the total number of 527,000 workers, while foreign sellers accounted for 50.2 percent, with 265,000 sellers.
Female workers in the profession outnumbered foreign workers by 95 per cent, with an estimated 125,000 Saudi vendors out of a total of 13,186, and foreign sales of only 7,022.
While foreigners accounted for the largest proportion of men working in the profession, with 258250 foreign sales, compared to 137,000 Saudi sellers, out of a total of 395,000 in the market.