Saudi Arabia has announced that non-oil foreign trade rose by 11.6 per cent in December 2011, compared with the previous month, or 9.8 per cent compared with the same period in 2010.

The latest figures show that in the fourth quarter of 2011 non-oil foreign trade was gaining momentum compared with the third quarter. Meanwhile, data from the US Census Bureau reveals Saudi-US bilateral trade rose by 42.5 per cent in 2011 to $61.2bn.

Non-oil exports in December were SR15.5bn, compared with SR13bn in November, and non-oil imports were SR36.6bn in December, compared with SR33.7bn in November.