The IMF, in the 24 June update to its World Economic Outlook, has slashed its projection for Saudi 2020 GDP growth to an eye-watering -6.8%. This is a massive downgrade from the IMF’s forecast of -2.3% made only two months earlier (MEES, 17 April), and substantially more bearish than the World Bank’s -3.8% forecast made just two weeks ago (MEES, 12 June).
On the overall global economy, however, the IMF is projecting -4.9% ‘growth’ for 2020, a somewhat less pessimistic take than the World Bank’s -5.2%. The IMF projects -8.0% 2020 growth for the US, -10.2% for the Euro area and -4.5% for India; China at +1.0% is the only major economy forecast to see any sort of growth this year. (CONTINUED - 150 WORDS)