The Saudi economy posted an excellent performance last year, said the Council of Saudi Chambers, noting that the upward trend was all the more evident on falling inflation.

The inflation rate dropped to 3.4 percent in November, the CSC report said.

All indicators show that the Saudi economy has been in excellent shape despite an unfavorable climate in the world economic situation, CSC said.

Commenting on inflation figure, John Sfakianakis, chief investment strategist at Masic in Saudi Arabia, said: “Inflation over the first three months of the year has been at 3.9 percent year-on-year and it is expected that during the second half of the year, we could see a pickup of prices due to the Ramadan effect, other seasonal factors and base effects.” However, he said: “Inflationary pressures are the direct result of food and rental prices. Average annual inflation should be a bit higher than 4 percent for 2013.”

However, Basil Al-Ghalayini, CEO of BMG Financial Group, said: “It is still difficult to measure the trend of inflation during Q1, 2013. We see no change in consumer goods prices while building materials prices have shown noticeable increase.”

The CSC report put the country's GDP growth rate at 6 percent in 2012.