Spending on education in Saudi Arabia boosts PoS transactions to reach $3.16 billion
Education Spending Boosts Point-of-Sale Transactions in Saudi Arabia
In the week ending July 26, 2025, education spending in Saudi Arabia contributed to a rise in overall Point-of-Sale (POS) transaction values, with the education sector's spending growing by 3.6%. This growth helped push total POS transactions across all sectors to SR11.87 billion ($3.16 billion), despite declines in other sectors.
The education sector recorded SR111.18 million in transaction value, although the number of transactions slightly decreased by 4.1% to 140,000. This suggests higher-value or more focused spending per transaction. The overall POS transactions across all sectors fell by 2.9% in the same period, indicating that education spending helped offset broader declines and supported steady consumer activity.
This spending trend aligns with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, which heavily invests in education to build a diversified, knowledge-based economy. The country’s higher education market is growing rapidly, expected to expand from USD 263.2 million in 2024 to USD 1.38 billion by 2033 (CAGR of 20.26%), driving demand in related retail and service sectors that affect POS transactions.
The Saudi government also approved a new statistics law on July 29 to improve POS data granularity and transparency, further enabling data-driven decisions supporting economic diversification and education-related commerce.
Here are some key points describing this impact:
- The subcategory of books and stationery saw the largest decrease, dropping by 5.8% to SR98.11 million.
- Spending on freight transport, postal and courier services decreased by 0.9 percent to SR36.13 million, the smallest decline among all sectors.
- Expenditure on telecommunication saw a 1 percent dip to SR131.86 million.
- Jeddah followed with a 3.1 percent dip to SR1.70 billion.
- Hail recorded 3.2 percent fewer transactions compared to the previous week.
- The restaurants and cafes sector saw a 2.4% decrease, totaling SR1.55 billion.
Other sectors experienced declines. Spending on airlines dropped by 5.6% to SR65.20 million, while the hotels sector saw a 1.3% increase to SR291.07 million. Dammam ranked third, down 2.8 percent to SR566.81 million. Al-Jubail saw the smallest increase, inching up 0.6 percent to SR123.04 million. Spending on transportation ranked third despite a 2.2% decline to SR945.76 million. Al-Baha saw a 0.7 percent increase to SR76.12 million.
In summary, higher education investment in Saudi Arabia is a significant driver for sustaining and increasing POS transaction values, reflecting elevated education-related consumer spending even as other sectors experience declines. This trend is underpinned by Vision 2030 reforms and the rapid expansion of the education market.
- The growth in education spending in Saudi Arabia, as stated in the news, contributed to an increase in Point-of-Sale (POS) transaction values, aligning with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, which focuses on education to build a diversified economy.
- The education sector's Point-of-Sale transactions decreased slightly in number but showed higher-value transactions, evident in the transaction value of SR111.18 million.
- In the realm of education-and-self-development, Saudi Arabia's higher education market is anticipated to expand significantly, from USD 263.2 million in 2024 to USD 1.38 billion by 2033, influencing retail and service sectors that impact POS transactions.
- The Saudi government has taken steps to enhance POS data granularity and transparency, passing a new statistics law on July 29, 2025, to facilitate data-driven decisions supporting economic diversification and education-related commerce.
- While other sectors like airlines, transportation, and restaurants and cafes experienced declines, the education sector's increased investment seems to be a significant driver for maintaining and growing POS transaction values in the Saudi Arabian economy.
