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Real GDP growth in the Middle East and Central Asia is forecast
to fall to 2.9% in 2023, from 5.3% last year, before improving
to 3.5% in 2024, the IMF said in its Regional Economic Outlook
report.
Growth in the Middle East and North Africa region will slow to
3.1% in 2023, from 5.3% a year ago, and to 4.2% in the Caucasus
and Central Asian states from 4.8% last year.
"Uncertainties are high and there are a number of risks that are
impacting the outlook for the region," IMF regional director
Jihad Azour told Reuters.
"Some risks are global, some are related to the risk of
fragmentation, but some of it is due to the fact that a certain
number of countries have a high level of debt," he said.
The report said that tight monetary and fiscal policies across
the region and tight financial conditions "call for accelerating
structural reforms to bolster potential growth and enhance
resilience."
Growth in Egypt is forecast to slow to 3.7% in 2023 from 6.6% in
2022 amid economic woes that led it to seek a $3 billion,
46-month financial support package from the IMF.
The IMF forecast is more conservative than the 4% projected in a
recent Reuters poll.
"It is very important for a programme that is set to be
implemented over four years to anchor confidence by accelerating
reforms, and also to maintain the discipline on the
macroeconomic front, to make sure the attractiveness of the
Egyptian economy for investors and the recovery of growth is
taking shape," Azour said.
(Reporting by Rachna Uppal; Editing by Conor Humphries)
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