Economy
Mena Economies Face Sharp Slowdown in Growth, World Bank Predicts
The World Bank’s Middle East and North Africa unit (MEU) anticipates a significant decline in the growth of MENA economies, from 6% in 2022 to a mere 1.9% in 2023. This forecast was unveiled at the joint World Bank-International Monetary Fund meeting held in Marrakesh, Morocco on Thursday.
The MEU attributes this downturn to a combination of factors, including reduced oil production, depressed oil prices, stringent global financial conditions, and high inflation. Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) oil exporters are expected to bear the brunt of these impacts.
Ferid Belhaj, the World Bank’s Vice President for the MENA region, expressed concerns about the future job prospects for the region’s youth amidst this slow growth. He emphasized the need for structural economic and labor market reforms to address these challenges.
The MEU report also predicts declining growth for developing oil exporters and MENA oil net importers. The recent earthquake in Morocco and floods in Libya are noted as potential sources of short-lived macroeconomic effects.
In a worrying revelation, the report suggests that only eight out of 15 MENA economies are projected to return to pre-COVID-19 pandemic real GDP per capita levels by the end of 2023. This points towards enduring structural challenges within MENA’s labor markets.
In 2022, the surge in oil prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine benefited GCC economies. However, Saudi Arabia’s economy is anticipated to contract by 0.9% this year due to voluntary reductions in oil production. Consequently, the IMF has downgraded Saudi Arabia’s growth forecast for 2023.
This comprehensive analysis by the World Bank underscores the urgency for structural reforms within the MENA region’s economies, particularly in light of the anticipated slowdown and ongoing global financial pressures.
This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.
© Reuters. Russian Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina attends a news conference in Moscow, Russia June 14, 2019. REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov/File Photo
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s central bank will need two to three months to make sure that inflation is steadily declining before taking any decision on interest rate cuts, the bank’s governor Elvira Nabiullina told RBC media on Sunday.
The central bank raised its key interest rate by 100 basis points to 16% earlier in December, hiking for the fifth consecutive meeting in response to stubborn inflation, and suggested that its tightening cycle was nearly over.
Nabiullina said it was not yet clear when exactly the regulator would start cutting rates, however.
“We really need to make sure that inflation is steadily decreasing, that these are not one-off factors that can affect the rate of price growth in a particular month,” she said.
Nabiullina said the bank was taking into account a wide range of indicators but primarily those that “characterize the stability of inflation”.
“This will take two or three months or more – it depends on how much the wide range of indicators that characterize sustainable inflation declines,” she said.
The bank will next convene to set its benchmark rate on Feb. 16.
The governor also said the bank should have started monetary policy tightening earlier than in July, when it embarked on the rate-hiking cycle.
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Workers walk past an under-construction area with completed office towers in the background, in Shenzhen’s Qianhai new district, Guangdong province, China August 25, 2023. REUTERS/David Kirton/File Photo
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s top planning body said on Saturday it had identified a second batch of public investment projects, including flood control and disaster relief programmes, under a bond issuance and investment plan announced in October to boost the economy.
With the latest tranche, China has now earmarked more than 800 billion yuan of its 1 trillion yuan ($140 billion) in additional government bond issuance in the fourth quarter, as it focuses on fiscal steps to shore up the flagging economy.
The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said in a statement on Saturday it had identified 9,600 projects with planned investment of more than 560 billion yuan.
China’s economy, the world’s second largest, is struggling to regain its footing post-COVID-19 as policymakers grapple with tepid consumer demand, weak exports, falling foreign investment and a deepening real estate crisis.
The 1 trillion yuan in additional bond issuance will widen China’s 2023 budget deficit ratio to around 3.8 percent from 3 percent, the state-run Xinhua news agency has said.
“Construction of the projects will improve China’s flood control system, emergency response mechanism and disaster relief capabilities, and better protect people’s lives and property, so it is very significant,” the NDRC said.
The agency said it will coordinate with other government bodies to make sure that funds are allocated speedily for investment and that high standards of quality are maintained in project construction.
($1 = 7.1315 renminbi)
© Reuters. Russian Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina attends a news conference in Moscow, Russia June 14, 2019. REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov/File Photo
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s central bank will need two to three months to make sure that inflation is steadily declining before taking any decision on interest rate cuts, the bank’s governor Elvira Nabiullina told RBC media on Sunday.
The central bank raised its key interest rate by 100 basis points to 16% earlier in December, hiking for the fifth consecutive meeting in response to stubborn inflation, and suggested that its tightening cycle was nearly over.
Nabiullina said it was not yet clear when exactly the regulator would start cutting rates, however.
“We really need to make sure that inflation is steadily decreasing, that these are not one-off factors that can affect the rate of price growth in a particular month,” she said.
Nabiullina said the bank was taking into account a wide range of indicators but primarily those that “characterize the stability of inflation”.
“This will take two or three months or more – it depends on how much the wide range of indicators that characterize sustainable inflation declines,” she said.
The bank will next convene to set its benchmark rate on Feb. 16.
The governor also said the bank should have started monetary policy tightening earlier than in July, when it embarked on the rate-hiking cycle.
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