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Dubai / AFP
The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday raised its 2016 growth forecast for the Middle East and North Africa after a rebound in oil prices, but maintained its cautious outlook for Saudi Arabia.
The region, along with Afghanistan and Pakistan, is set to see economic growth of 3.4 percent this year, better than a previous projection of 3.1 percent, the IMF said.
At the same time it cut the growth forecast for 2017 to 3.3 percent, down from 3.5 percent in April, citing fallouts from “terrorism†and geopolitical tensions in its World Economic Outlook Update. The region includes major oil exporters like the Gulf Arab states, Iraq, Iran and Algeria, as well as oil importers such as Egypt, Morocco and others.