The Kingdom ranks fifth among G20 in IMF’s forecast for economic growth of 3% in 2025

Saudi Arabia ranked fifth among the G20 countries in terms of economic growth in 2025, according to the International Monetary Fund’s World Economic Outlook report, with a projected growth rate of 3%.

India topped the list with a growth rate of 6.2%, followed by Argentina with 5.5%, Indonesia with 4.7%, China with 4%, and Saudi Arabia with 5%.

Turkey ranked sixth in projected growth rates with a growth rate of 2.7%, Brazil with 2%, the United States with 1.8%, Australia with 1.6%, Russia with 1.5%, Canada with 1.4%, the United Kingdom with 1.1%, and both South Africa and South Korea with 1%.

For 2026, the IMF expects the Saudi economy to achieve a growth rate of 3.7%, higher than the average growth rate of the Middle East and Central Asia region of 3.5%, and among the highest among the G20 countries after China and India.

Despite the IMF’s lowering of the Saudi economy’s growth forecast, it remains among the world’s fastest-growing economies, thanks to the continued improvement in the performance of the non-oil sector and the ability to overcome the turmoil that has affected all economies in the region. This is a result of reaping the benefits of the progress made in implementing the programs and policies of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.

The IMF’s forecasts are very close to the latest forecast issued by the World Bank regarding the Saudi economy’s growth rate for 2025, which came in at 3.4%, while the IMF’s forecast for Saudi economic growth in 2026 is lower than the World Bank’s forecast of 5.4%. The IMF’s forecasts are lower than those issued by the Saudi Ministry of Finance in its budget statement last December, which projected 4.6% growth for the Saudi economy for 2025. The IMF’s optimistic outlook remains higher than the Ministry of Finance’s 2026 growth forecast of 3.5%.

Regarding the global economy, the IMF lowered its global growth forecast by 0.5 percentage points to 2.8% for 2025 and by 0.3 percentage points to 3% compared to its January forecast of 3.3% growth for both years.

The IMF lowered its growth forecasts for the United States, China, and most other countries, citing the impact of US tariffs, which have reached their highest levels in a century, and warned that continued trade tensions will lead to a further slowdown in growth.