DUBAI- Unemployment among Saudi Arabian citizens eased marginally to 12.8 percent in the third quarter of 2018, official figures released on Sunday showed.

The jobless rate first hit 12.9 percent, the highest level recorded by the statistics agency in data going back to 1999, in the first quarter of 2018 as private employers were hit by a new sales tax and a domestic fuel price hike.

(Reporting by Asma Alsharif Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky) ((asma.alsharif@thomsonreuters.com; +20225783290; Reuters Messaging: asma.alsharif.reuters.com@reuters.net))