RIYADH/CAIRO: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects the Saudi economy to grow 2.8 per cent in 2021 and 4.8 per cent in 2022, Arab News quoted it, as saying, in its annual World Economic Outlook.
The new 2021 growth forecast for the kingdom upgrades on the 2.4 per cent growth prediction from the previous report, issued in July.
However, the 2022 growth forecast remained unchanged. The 2021 forecast for the MENA region stays at 4.1 per cent, but the IMF’s 2022 growth prediction rose 0.4 per cent to 4.1 per cent.
Upward revisions in growth forecasts for emerging markets and developing economies, which includes MENA were attributed to favourable assessments of some commodity exporters and a “stronger-than-anticipated domestic demand” in regional economies. This outweighed the adverse developments of the pandemic.
The IMF also predicts consumer prices to increase 12.7 per cent in 2021 and 8.6 per cent in 2022 for the MENA region. The inflation increase is fuelled by hikes in food prices due to the local shortages and jumps in global food prices.
However, the kingdom’s inflation rate for 2021 is expected to be a much-lower 1.6 per cent, while the price increase in 2022 is projected to be moderately higher, rising 2.2 per cent.