Arab economies expected to grow by 2.8% in 2015, 3.5% in 2016: AMF

Abu Dhabi: The Arab Monetary Fund, AMF, said Arab economies are expected to grow by 2.8 per cent in 2015 and 3.5 per cent in 2016. The Fund revealed the numbers it in its September edition of “Arab Economic Outlook Report”, containing updated forecasts of economic growth and inflation rates for Arab countries in 2015 and 2016.

The report noted that world economic activity has not improved markedly during the first half of the year, contrary to what was anticipated by international organisations earlier this year. The modest economic performance is mainly attributed to several factors, the most important of which are the less than expected performance of the US economy, the continuation of worries about Eurozone economic recovery, the contraction of economic activities in the Commonwealth of Independent States due to geopolitical risks, and the slowdown of economic growth in many developing and emerging market economies, notably China and oil-exporting countries.

The report further indicated that the aforementioned developments will reflect on global domestic demand, hence on the growth prospects of Arab economies in 2015 and 2016, where exports contribute about 53 per cent of the aggregated demand levels and oil receipts constitute around 68 per cent of the total public revenues for Arab countries as a group. As result of possible implications of the global economic environment, domestic economic developments seen in Arab countries throughout the year and based on the key assumptions of the report, AMF expects Arab economies to achieve a growth rate of about 2.8 per cent in 2015, reflecting improvement in growth prospects in some Arab countries and a weakening in some others.