Saudi Arabia's point-of-sale transactions totaled SR12.60 billion ($3.36 billion) in the week ending Oct. 17, down 6.8 percent from the previous seven days, according to data released by the Saudi Central Bank, also known as SAMA. The number of transactions fell 2.7 percent to 246.42 million over the same period.
The decline came as education-related transactions roughly halved compared with the previous week, according to the official data. Consumer spending nonetheless remained above the $3 billion mark for the week.