World Bank raises its forecast for Saudi economy growth in ‎‎2024 ‎

The World Bank raised its expectations for the growth of the Saudi economy during the next year 2024 to 3.3%, compared to 2.1% its expectations last January, while reducing its expectations for the growth of the current year 2023 to 2.2% compared to 3.7% its expectations last January and at the same level as its expectations last May. And he expected a growth of 2.5% in the year 2025

The Bank stated in its report issued yesterday, “Global Economic Prospects,” that global growth witnessed a sharp slowdown, and that the risks of financial pressures in emerging market and developing economies are intensifying amid rising global interest rates.

The report stated that global growth is expected to slow from 3.1% in 2022 to 2.1% in 2023. With regard to emerging market economies and developing economies other than China, the report expected their growth rate to slow to 2.9% this year after It grew by 4.1% last year. These expectations reflect a broad decline

According to the report, most emerging market and developing economies have experienced only limited damage due to the recent banking pressures in advanced economies, but these economies are currently sailing in dangerous waters. One in four emerging market and developing economies has effectively lost access to international bond markets, in light of the increasing tightening of global credit conditions. These pressures are particularly severe for emerging market and developing economies that suffer from underlying vulnerabilities such as low credit. Growth projections for these economies for 2023 are less than half of what they were a year ago, making them highly vulnerable to additional shocks.

The latest projections indicate that the overlapping shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and a sharp slowdown in tightening global financial conditions have led to a prolonged setback to development efforts in emerging market and developing economies, something that may persist for the foreseeable future. Therefore, it is expected that economic activity in these economies will be less than 5% by the end of 2024, compared to the levels expected before the outbreak of the pandemic. And in low-income countries—especially the poorest—the damage is stark: in more than a third of these countries, per capita income in 2024 will still be below 2019 levels. The extent of extreme poverty in many low-income countries

As for the advanced economies, the report expected the growth rate to decline from 2.6% in 2022 to 0.7% this year, and to remain weak in 2024. After the US economy grew by 1.1% in 2023, it is expected to slow to 0.8%. in 2024, primarily due to the continuing impact of the sharp rise in interest rates over the past year and a half. In the euro area, growth is expected to slow to 0.4% in 2023 from 3.5% in 2022, due to the delayed impact of monetary policy tightening and higher energy prices.