The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has called on Saudi officials to take steps to reduce the value of government workers’ wage bills and protect them, while taking steps to support the lowest-income families.
The fund said in a statement issued Thursday after the fourth round of consultations with Saudi Arabia that it “supports the authorities’ medium-term measures to control the financial situation, but emphasizes the need to continue to improve the social security network in the short term to support low-income families.”
Bloomberg News reported that the fund changed its forecast for Saudi Arabia’s economic growth this year to 2.4 percent, compared with 1.2 percent as previously expected, due to the gradual recovery of the economy from the decline recorded over the past year.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s oil economy is expected to shrink by 0.4% this year, while the UK’s crude oil production level continues to be around the OPEC + agreement, while the non-oil economy is expected to grow rapidly 3.9 percent to 4.3 percent.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has called on Saudi officials to take steps to reduce the value of government workers’ wage bills and protect them, while taking steps to support the lowest-income families.
The fund said the Saudi economy was “recovering well”. While the financial pressure of the central government (Saudi Arabia) will be a hindrance to growth, the increase in spending of the Saudi public investment fund can offset this effect.