IMF: Algeria Among The Fastest-Growing Arab Economies In 2022
Algeria’s economy will be one of the fastest-growing Arab economies in 2022, according to a recent report by the International Monetary Fund.
Algeria is set to achieve a growth rate of 4.7 per cent by the end of the current year, according to the “World Economic Outlook” report issued on Tuesday.
The International Monetary Fund placed Algeria among the six Arab economies that will record the highest growth rates in the mentioned period, despite the effects of the global economic slowdown, in light of the continuing crisis of the war in Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Algeria will achieve the second-highest growth rate in North Africa after Egypt (6.6%). Iraq represents the fastest-growing Arab economy (9.3%), according to the report.
The 10 Fastest-Growing Arab Economies in 2022:
1- Iraq (9.3%)
2- Kuwait (8.7%)
3- Saudi Arabia (7.6%)
4- Egypt (6.6%)
5- UAE (5.1%)
6- Algeria (4.7%)
7- Oman (4.4%)
8- Palestine (4%)
9- Qatar (3.4%)
10- Bahrain (3.4%)
MENA Economies grow by 5.5% but benefits are uneven, IMF reported said.
The economies of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region are expected to grow by 5.5% this year —the fastest rate since 2016—followed by a slowing of growth to 3.5% in 2023. Yet this growth is uneven across the region, as countries, still struggling to overcome the lasting effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, face jolting new shocks from higher oil and food prices brought on by the war in Ukraine, rising global interest rates, and slowdowns in the United States, China, and the Euro area, the IMF report added.
The World Economy is ‘Historically Fragile’
The International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday that the world economy was headed for “stormy waters” as it downgraded its global growth projections for next year and warned of a harsh worldwide recession if policymakers mishandled the fight against inflation.
The grim assessment was detailed in the fund’s World Economic Outlook report, which was published as the world’s top economic officials travelled to Washington for the annual meetings of the World Bank and the IMF.
There are growing fears among policymakers that a so-called soft landing will elude the global economy.
“In short, the worst is yet to come, and for many people, 2023 will feel like a recession,” the International Monetary Fund report said.
The organization maintained its most recent forecast that the global economy will grow 3.2% this year but now projects that will slow to 2.7% in 2023, slightly lower than the fund’s previous estimate. Both figures are big comedowns from the start of the year, when the fund projected global growth of 4.4% in 2022 and 3.8% in 2023, highlighting how the outlook has darkened in recent months.
The IMF anticipates that global inflation will peak in late 2022, increasing from 4.7% in 2021 to 8.8% and that it will “remain elevated for longer than previously expected.”
More than a third of the global economy will see two consecutive quarters of negative growth, while the three largest economies, the United States, the European Union and China, will continue to slow, the report said.
The IMF report detailed how the economies of the United States, China and the 19 nations that use the euro are in various states of slowing, with effects rippling around the world. It laid out three major events currently hindering growth: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the cost-of-living crisis and China’s economic slowdown. Together, they create a “volatile” period economically, geopolitically and ecologically.
The war in Ukraine continues to “powerfully destabilize the global economy,” according to the report, with its impacts causing a “severe” energy crisis in Europe, along with destruction in Ukraine itself.
The price of natural gas has more than quadrupled since 2021, as Russia now delivers less than 20% of 2021 levels. Food prices have also been pushed up as a result of the conflict.
As the pain piles up in rich and poor countries alike, policymakers are under increasing pressure to blunt the fallout, with central bankers, including those at the Federal Reserve, facing calls to curtail interest rate increases.
Still, the fund warned that doing too little to combat inflation would make the fight more costly later. It also said governments should avoid enacting fiscal policies that would make inflation worse.
In its report, the fund acknowledged that its forecasts faced considerable uncertainty. The further withdrawal of Russian gas supplies to Europe could depress the continent’s economies, debt crises in developing countries could worsen, and the pandemic could come roaring back.
“Risks to the outlook remain unusually large and to the downside,” the report said.
In its report, the fund acknowledged that its forecasts faced considerable uncertainty. The further withdrawal of Russian gas supplies to Europe could depress the continent’s economies, debt crises in developing countries could worsen, and the pandemic could come roaring back.
“Risks to the outlook remain unusually large and to the downside,” the report said.
For emerging markets and developing economies, the shocks of 2022 will “re-open economic wounds that were only partially healed following the pandemic,” the report said.
The IMF also spoke of a “deteriorated” economic outlook in its Global Financial Stability Report, released Tuesday just after its World Economic Outlook. “The global environment is fragile with storm clouds on the horizon,” the report said.
Policymakers around the world are facing an “unusually challenging financial stability environment” where further shocks “may trigger market illiquidity, disorderly sell-offs, or distress,” the report added.