Riyadh – Mubasher: Sales transaction through points of sale (POS) across Saudi Arabia continued to rise during November, reaching its second-highest level in 2019.

POS sales increased by 30.1% or SAR 5.98 billion and amounted to SAR 25.85 billion last month, compared with SAR 19.78 billion in November 2018, according to data by the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA).

This is the second biggest value recorded in 2019, after reaching SAR 27.82 billion in May.

On a monthly basis, POS sales grew by 2.9% compared with its level in October at SAR 25.12 billion.

This year’s POS sales volume already reached a new record level, even before the end of 2019, with a total of SAR 275.39 billion in the first eleven months of the year.

Last year, POS sales reached a total of SAR 232.31 billion.

Meanwhile, the eleven-month period saw a 22.6% growth in sales compared with the same period last year.

The number of transactions also increased to its highest level in 2019 during last November to 170.31 million transactions, compared with 98.44 million transactions in the same month of the previous year and 164.21 million in the previous month.

Near-field communication (NFC) sales amounted to SAR 13.18 billion in November.

Food and beverage dominated SAR 3.41 billion on POS purchases through 40,110 transactions, followed by restaurants and cafes with SAR 2.85 billion with 51,350 transactions.

Across the kingdom, Riyadh came in first place in terms of spending with 58,180 transactions worth a total SAR 8.8 billion, followed by Jeddah with SAR 4.07 billion and 22,770 transactions.