High oil prices will drive Saudi Arabia’s economic growth to outpace the US this year, IMF says

High oil prices will drive Saudi Arabia’s economic growth to outpace the US this year, IMF says

High oil prices will likely cause Saudi Arabia's economic growth to outpace that of the US this year, the IMF said.

Estimates show the kingdom's real GDP will rise by 7.6% this year, compared to estimates of 2.3% for the US.

The US is hobbled by high domestic inflation. part of which is in the form of soaring energy prices.

High oil prices will likely cause Saudi Arabia's economic growth to outpace that of the US this year, according to the International Monetary Fund.

Saudi Arabia's GDP is expected by the IMF to increase by 7.6 percent this year – the fastest rate of expansion in nearly a decade. Meanwhile, the US is likely to grapple with high inflation until 2023, with estimate real domestic GDP growth at 2.3%, less than half of last year's growth of 5.7%.

The GDP growth spurt for Saudi Arabia comes after the oil-rich nation took bigger economic hit from the pandemic in 2020, when its GDP shrank by 3.4% compared to negative 2.3% in the US.

"Saudi Arabia is likely to be one of the world's fastest-growing economies this year as sweeping pro-business reforms and a sharp rise in oil prices and production power recovery from a pandemic-induced recession," the