The International Monetary Fund has raised its expectations for the growth of the Saudi economy in 2023 to 3.7 percent, up from its April forecast of 3.6 percent.
The IMF has kept its expectations for the Kingdom’s economic growth during 2022 unchanged at 7.6 percent, according to an update of its World Economic Outlook.
Although Saudi Arabia continues to be in a strong position, globally, a tentative recovery in 2021 “has been followed by increasingly gloomy developments in 2022 as risks began to materialize. Global output contracted in the second quarter of this year, owing to downturns in China and Russia, while US consumer spending undershot expectations,” the IMF said.
“Several shocks have hit a world economy already weakened by the pandemic: higher-than-expected inflation worldwide––especially in the United States and major European economies––triggering tighter financial conditions; a worse-than-anticipated slowdown in China, reflecting COVID- 19 outbreaks and lockdowns; and further negative spillovers from the war in Ukraine.”
The baseline forecast is for growth to slow from 6.1 percent last year to 3.2 percent in 2022, 0.4 percentage point lower than in the April 2022 World Economic Outlook, the IMF said.
