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The World Bank has revised the economic growth forecast for the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region to 4.7% in 2025, up from the previous projection of 3.8% published in April.
This year’s growth, however, is now projected to hit 2.8%, down from the previous estimate of 3.6%, according to figures shared in the Spring 2024 Gulf Economic Update (GEU) of the World Bank.
The report, announced on Wednesday, noted that the regional prospects are still encouraging and that the economic rebound in the GCC are due to the expected recovery in oil output and strong non-oil economy.
Members of the OPEC+ are anticipated to gradually relax production quotas during the second half of the year, while the non-oil sector is set to continue to grow at a robust pace over the medium term, the report noted.
Fiscal surplus in the region will continue to narrow this year, reaching 0.1% of GDP, while current account surplus is expected to reach 7.5% of GDP, compared to 8.4% in 2022.
As previously forecast by the World Bank, the report noted that the UAE’s real GDP is poised to accelerate to 3.9% this year, while Saudi Arabia is expected to post a 2.5% growth in 2024 and 5.9% in 2025.
(Writing by Cleofe Maceda; editing by Seban Scaria)
