Saudi gross domestic product (GDP) growth slowed to 6.8 per cent in real terms in 2012 from 7.1 per cent in 2011, the state-run Saudi Press Agency said on Saturday, citing Finance Minister Ibrahim Alassaf.

The GDP totalled SR2.73 trillion this year, representing nominal growth of 8.6 per cent, Alassaf said in a 2013 budget statement to the Saudi cabinet and King Abdullah.

He stated that 2012 inflation was 2.9 per cent using an updated baseline of 2007 prices, and was 4.5 per cent using old 1999 baseline. The public debt was SR98 billion or 3.6 per cent of GDP, he added. -Reuters