The International Monetary Fund Forecasts Saudi Arabia’s GDP to shrink by 6.8% in 2020

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has predicted the gross domestic product (GDP) of Saudi Arabia for year 2020 to contract by 6.8%, driven by the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as reducing oil prices. This is a reflection of a rapid deterioration of Saudi Arabia’s economy as the IMF's latest prediction is 4.5% lower than its earlier projection made two months earlier.

Consensus states that the Middle East and North African region could end up losing hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue as oil prices slump in the midst of a global slowdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The IMF has projected that growth in the Middle East and Central Asia region will contract by 4.7% in 2020, 1.9% low...