The Middle East economic growth, which reported a slowdown last year, is likely to recover in 2018, but risks remain, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The IMF warns that the debt crisis may exacerbate the region and advises oil importers and exporters to continue economic reforms and shrinking state subsidies.

It adds that the growth of this region, which includes all Arab countries and Iran, should be 3.2% this year, after 2.2% in 2017.

“Growth in 2018 should be better than in 2017”, said Jihad Azour, director of the Middle East and Central Asia of the Fund.

In 2017 oil exporters from the region struck the bottom with a growth of 1.7%. In 2018, they would have to achieve an increase in gross domestic product of 2.8%. The importers of oil from the same region are expected to achieve economic growth of about 4.8%, up from 4.3% last year, and this is good news.

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries – Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, which supply nearly one-fifth of world oil consumption, are expected to grow 2.2% in 2018 and 2.6% in 2019, according to the IMF, after shrinking by 0.2% in 2017 (of which 0.7% for the Saudi economy).

These positive prospects for GCC are mainly due to oil price rises, which reached more than 70 USD per barrel from less than 30 USD in early 2016.

After the sharp decline in oil in mid-2014, the GCC countries took measures and started tax reforms to cut government spending and increase non-revenue revenues in the Treasury.