Oman to lead GCC in GDP growth in 2019, says IMF forecast

Washington: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has forecast that the Sultanate will register the highest growth rates in GDP among the GCC states in 2019.
In its report titled ‘Economic Outlook for Middle East’, the IMF forecast that the Sultanate will post the highest growth rate in GDP with 4.2 per cent followed by Kuwait 3.8 per cent, U.A.E 3 per cent, Bahrain 2.3 per cent and Saudi Arabia 1.7 per cent.
The report forecast that the oil price hike will improve the current accounts at the GCC States in 2018 and 2019 pointing out that each GCC State will likely use different financial tools to enhance its financial resources.
IMF said at the World Economic Outlook report, which was published on April 18th on the basis of the available data as of January 18th 2018, that the global growth rates for 2018 and 2019 will remain stable.
It added that it forecasts the real GDP growth rates for 2018 and 2019 to hit 3.9 per cent each year.
In its April 2018 report, IMF has changed its forecasts for regional growth rates on January 18th, at which it forecast that the Sultanate will post the highest growth rate in GDP.
IMF increased its forecasts for the Sultanate’s GDP growth from 2.9 per cent to 4.2 per cent.
The report affirmed that the GDP of the MENA region 2018 will drop by 20 points to 3.2 per cent due to the continuous financial acclimatisation, and geopolitical risks that affect oil exporters.
It added that the GDP for the region in 2019 is expected to increase by 30 base points to 3.6 per cent which is attributed to the oil production increase after the expiry of OPEC Oil Production Cut Agreement.