London-based data and analytics firm GlobalData has lowered its 2023 growth projection for the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region to 2.8% from its March 2023 estimate of 3.17%.

The revision was driven by a fall in oil prices and lower crude production, as well as less developed African nations facing challenges from high food prices, complicating their economic recovery, according to the company’s global macroeconomic outlook Q3 2023 update .

Overall, global economic growth is forecast to gain momentum in 2023 due to easing inflation pressures in food and energy sectors.

APAC nations will drive nearly 70% of the global growth; however, its Western peers will encounter significant economic deceleration.

Against this backdrop, GlobalData revised lower its 2023 global economic growth projection to 2.1% in June from 1.97% in March.

Moreover, the global inflation rate is estimated to drop to 5.3% in 2023 from 8.7% in 2022, but it is projected to remain above the target set by major economies’ central banks. 

Inflation rates will ease across all regions, primarily falling from 19% in 2022 to 16% in 2023 in the Middle East and Africa region.

“Despite an optimistic outlook, persistent high core inflation, geopolitical tensions between the US and China, expected slowdown of the Chinese economy in H2 2023, and uncertainties from the conflict in Ukraine remain areas of concern,” said Ramnivas Mundada, Director of Companies and Economic Research at GlobalData, 

Proactively managing these risks is essential to sustain the positive economic trajectory, he added.

(Editing by Seban Scaria seban.scaria@lseg.com )