World Bank official predicts 3.3% GDP growth for Kingdom in 2022

World Bank official predicts 3.3% GDP growth for Kingdom in 2022

With an improvement in global oil demand, the World Bank has predicted Saudi Arabia’s average gross domestic product to reach 2.4 percent in 2021 and 3.3 percent the next year.
Issam Abousleiman, the World Bank’s director for GCC countries, told Arab News that rapid vaccine rollout around the world would lift crude demand, especially in advanced economies, and reverse the massive GDP contraction (4.1 percent) the Kingdom witnessed at the peak of the pandemic in 2020.
The official, however, warned that the bank’s baseline energy projections remained susceptible to pandemic-related risks, most notably the emergence of new coronavirus variants and renewed restrictions, which may result in a fresh fall in global oil demand.

 

The non-oil sector is expected to resume its growth trajectory in the medium-term, reflecting stronger private consumption, higher capital spending by the Public Investment Fund under its five-year investment strategy, and a pickup in religious tourism following the lifting of an international travel ban in May