The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) announced in its annual report "OECD Global Economic Prospects 2022", its expectations that the growth rate of Saudi Arabia's domestic product will reach 9.9% this year, the highest growth rate among the G20 countries, which include (the G-20 economy, emerging market economies and developing economies). Despite the main challenges facing the global economy, in light of the persistence of inflation for a longer period than expected and the slowdown in GDP growth in 2022 and 2023, the estimates of the OECD report for the Kingdom contradict the bleak and ambiguous outlook that stems from several main factors; namely the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, the rise in energy and food prices, the exacerbation of inflationary pressures, the tightening of monetary policies and general closure measures as a result of the new outbreaks of (Covid-19). As a result, the OECD report lowered its expectations for the performance of the global economy for the current year and 2023, as its estimates were affected by the slowdown in growth in most economies in the world, but kept its expectations for the growth of the Saudi economy during 2022 at 9.9%. Also, the report expected the Saudi economy to increase by 6% in 2023. This announcement comes after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) praised the strength of the Kingdom's economy and its financial position, affirming that the Kingdom's economic prospects are positive in the short and medium terms, with the continued recovery of economic growth rates and the containment of inflation, in addition to the increasing strength of its external economic position. The IMF's experts stressed that the Kingdom's continued implementation of structural reforms will help ensure a strong, comprehensive, and environmentally friendly recovery, noting that the Kingdom is recovering strongly in the wake of the recession caused by the pandemic. They added that the liquidity support, the support provided by the public finances, the momentum of reforms, the rise in oil prices and the increase in its production helped the Kingdom recover.
