The General Authority for Statistics issued the short-term business indicators bulletin for May 2026, where the operational revenue index recorded an increase of 11.4% during the same month compared to May 2025, supported by growth in a number of economic activities, most notably mining and quarrying activity which recorded an increase of 38.7%, manufacturing activity which rose by 9.6%, in addition to an increase in wholesale and retail trade and repair of vehicles activity by 3.6%, and an increase in construction activity, financial activities and insurance activities by 2.5% and 12.9%.

On a monthly basis, the operational revenue index recorded an increase of 2.9% compared to April 2026, supported by an increase in manufacturing activity by 0.6%, an increase in mining and quarrying activity by 10.2%, an increase in wholesale and retail trade and repair of vehicles activity by 1.3%, in addition to an increase in financial activities and insurance activities by 1.1%, and an increase in information and communication activities by 1.9%.

Building permits issued during May 2026 witnessed an annual decrease of 33.3%, reaching 5,056 permits compared to 7,584 permits in May 2025, while recording a monthly decrease of 25.7% compared to April 2026, which had 6,803 permits issued.

It is worth noting that the short-term business statistics product is one of the economic statistical products that aims to measure the performance of various economic sectors in the short term through monthly indicators that monitor developments and growth rates for each activity, targeting all economic activities in establishments operating in the business sector in the Kingdom.