IMF ‘is too pessimistic’ on Saudi economic prospects

Saudi Arabia does not share the International Monetary Fund’s pessimism about its economic prospects, the central bank governor said on Tuesday.

The IMF has predicted that COVID-19 lockdowns and the fall in oil prices would shrink the Saudi GDP by 6.8 percent this year, but that did not correspond with the views of the Kingdom’s independent experts, Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority chief Ahmed Abdulkarim Alkholifey said.

“The IMF forecasts are much more pessimistic than ours,” Alkholifey said. “The IMF must have its own reasons for reaching that. There have been big changes and huge modifications from the pandemic.”

He said the Kingdom’s own pro