RIYADH — The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has raised its growth forecast for the performance of Saudi Arabia's economy by about 0.5 percent to six percent for the year 2025, up from 5.5 percent predicted in January 2024. The IMF is raising the Saudi economy's growth rate forecast for the year 2025 for the second time in a row during this year. This makes the Saudi economy recording the second highest expected growth rate in 2025, coming next to the Indian economy, which is expected to achieve a growth rate of 6.5 percent. In its 'World Economic Outlook' report released this month, the IMF stated that the baseline forecast is for the world economy to continue growing at 3.2 percent during 2024 and 2025, at the same pace as in 2023. The report highlighted that the global recovery is steady but slow and differs by region. In the last report, the IMF's experts raised their expectations for the growth rate of the Kingdom's economy for the year 2025 from 5.5 percent to 6 percent, despite its stability in the expectations of the growth rate of the global economy at the level of 3.2 percent. It is noteworthy that the forecast of the IMF experts in January 2024 was that the Kingdom's economy would grow from 4.5 percent to 5.5 percent in 2025. This change in the Fund's expectations were made in accordance with the data it recently issued in its report. This is a clear reference to the optimistic outlook on the performance and strength of the Saudi economy and the positive growth it achieves despite the risks, challenges and global conditions that most economies are witnessing. The IMF report showed that the Saudi economy is witnessing a distinguished performance in its diversification, in addition to the growth of non-oil revenues, reaching unprecedented levels.
