The Director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department at the International Monetary Fund, Jihad Azour, said that, “The reduction in growth expectations for the Saudi economy for the current year by 0.5 percent to 2.6 percent. This was due to the additional reduction in the Kingdom's oil production by one million barrels per day despite the gradual improvement in the second half of last year was bigger than expected.”
The fund raised its forecast for the growth of the Saudi economy for the next year to 4 percent, compared to its previous forecast in October.
Azour stressed that "Saudi Arabia faced one of the biggest crises in 2020, but the second half witnessed a greater movement of the economy, in light of the better management of the pandemic in the second stage," noting that "the non-oil sector in the Kingdom will continue to improve and there will be additional momentum. He mentioned that the reduction in the expected growth that occurred due to the oil sector is a natural thing."
Regarding the huge investments that the Kingdom intends to pump, he said that those investments must be in line with giving a greater role to the private sector.
Source (Al-Arabiya.net website, Edited)
