More than 8,000 construction companies, mostly small firms, pulled out of the Saudi market in one year, according to the Gulf Kingdom’s top contracting body.

From nearly 175,000 at the end of 2020, the number of contracting firms operating in the world’s largest oil exporter declined to around 167,100 at the end of 2021, the Saudi Contractors’ Authority (SCA) said in a report published by Almadina newspaper.

The report, which did not cite reasons for the decline, showed nearly 121,600 contracting companies, or around 73 percent, are “very small firms” while nearly 39,200, or about 23 percent are “small” units.

More than 99 percent of the construction firms operating in the Kingdom are owned by Saudis at the end of 2021, the report showed.

SCA said in 2021 that most contracting firms have yet to heed its call to register with the Authority and obtain government rating, warning that unregistered contractors could be barred from bidding for public projects.

(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon @lseg.com)