The International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut on Monday its forecast for Saudi Arabia’s economic growth this year to 1.8 percent, down by 0.6 percentage point from the previous economic outlook in October, due to lower oil prices and lower oil production growth. The IMF sees growth in Saudi Arabia for 2019 at 1.8 percent, compared to 2.4 percent expected last October, while it lifted its 2020 economic growth forecast by 0.2 percentage point from October to 2.1 percent. In its World Economic Outlook (WEO) Update published on Monday, the IMF expects growth in the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan, and Pakistan region to remain subdued at 2.4 percent this year, before recovering to about 3 percent in 2020. The only individual country update for this region was provided for Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s largest oil producer. “Multiple factors weigh on the region’s outlook, including weak oil output growth, which offsets […]