DUBAI, May 3 (Reuters) - Economic growth in the Middle
East, North Africa and Central Asia regions will slow in 2023,
underlining the need to accelerate structural reforms, the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Wednesday.
Real GDP growth in the Middle East and Central Asia is
forecast to fall to 2.9% in 2023, from 5.3% last year, before
improving to 3.5% in 2024, the IMF said in its Regional Economic
Outlook report.
Growth in the Middle East and North Africa region will slow
to 3.1% in 2023, from 5.3% a year ago, and to 4.2% in the
Caucasus and Central Asian states from 4.8% last year.
"Uncertainties are high and there are a number of risks that
are impacting the outlook for the region," IMF regional director
Jihad Azour told Reuters.
"Some risks are global, some are related to the risk of
fragmentation, but some of it is due to the fact that a certain
number of countries have a high level of debt," he said.
The report said that tight monetary and fiscal policies
across the region and tight financial conditions "call for
accelerating structural reforms to bolster potential growth and
enhance resilience."
Growth in Egypt is forecast to slow to 3.7% in 2023 from
6.6% in 2022 amid economic woes that led it to seek a $3
billion, 46-month financial support package from the IMF.
The IMF forecast is more conservative than the 4% projected
in a recent Reuters poll.
"It is very important for a programme that is set to be
implemented over four years to anchor confidence by accelerating
reforms, and also to maintain the discipline on the
macroeconomic front, to make sure the attractiveness of the
Egyptian economy for investors and the recovery of growth is
taking shape," Azour said.
(Reporting by Rachna Uppal; Editing by Conor Humphries)
