RIYADH: 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.
Internationally, the fund had cut global growth forecasts again, warning that downside risks from high inflation and the Ukraine war were materializing and could push the world economy to the brink of recession if left unchecked.
Global real gross domestic product growth will slow to 3.2 percent in 2022 from a forecast of 3.6 percent issued in April, the IMF said in an update of its World Economic Outlook.
It added that world GDP actually contracted in the second quarter due to downturns in China and Russia.
UPDATE
When taking a closer look at emerging and developing economies, real GDP growth in China has been revised down to 3.3 percent in 2022, a 1.1 percentage point decrease from its value in April.
Similarly, China’s 2023 real GDP projections will carry on with the same trend.
In the latest IMF report, China’s real GDP is forecasted at 4.6 percent, down 0.5 percentage points from its predicted value in April.
China continues to suffer from slow economic growth as lockdown restrictions proceed, and global financial conditions tighten due to the war in Ukraine.
In contrast, the 2022 figure for Russia has been revised upwards since April, where the projection for real GDP growth increased by 2.5 percentage points, reaching negative 6.0 percent in IMF’s updated World economic Outlook report.
The same cannot be said for 2023 real GDP growth projections, as the IMF numbers were revised down by 1.2 percentage points from the April economic outlook report— expecting Russia’s real GDP growth to contract by 3.5 percent.
Moving onto the MENA region, the latest report shows a forecasted real GDP growth of 4.9 percent in 2022, revised down by 0.1 percentage points compared to the April forecast.
Likewise, the figure for 2023 was revised down by 0.2 percentage points, dropping to 3.4 percent growth.
As for the country grouping called "Middle East and Central Asia", the IMF has revised their 2022 GDP growth projections up by 0.2 percentage points from their April estimate, anticipating 4.8 percent growth in 2022.
However, the 2023 projection for the group differs, as the numbers have been revised down by 0.2 percentage points to 3.5 percent growth, according to the latest update from the IMF.
Looking at 2023 growth revisions for individual countries in the group of advanced economies, the US, Germany, and Spain saw the biggest downward revisions of 1.3 percentage points to 1.0, 0.8 and 2.0 percent, respectively.
The Fund's projection for real GDP growth in the Chinese economy for the current year has been revised down by 1.1 percentage points to 3.3 percent, and by 0.5 percentage points to 4.6 percent for 2023.
