New World Bank report forecasts growth in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) to hit an average of 2 percent, compared to an average of 1.4 percent in 2017.
The slow pace of growth, however, will not generate enough jobs for the region’s large youth population. New drivers of growth are needed to reach the level of job creation required, said the report.
Growth dimensions in the GCC countries, oil-exporters, are likely to witness a progress in which Saudi Arabia's economic growth will exceed 2 percent in 2020 and that of the UAE will rise also during the same period.
The Iranian economy is expected to slump and affect the oil-exporting countries from outside the GCC, in which growth average in these countries will drop to less than 1 percent in 2019 before it rises again to 1.9 percent in 2020.
The report explained that the second batch of US economic sanctions obliged some huge commercial partners of Iran to reduce their imports from the Iranian oil, and pushed many foreign companies to reduce their activity in Iran.
The WB expected Egypt’s growth to hit 5.6 percent during the fiscal year 2019, supported by private consumption, a recovery in the tourism sector and the operationalization of recently discovered gas fields.
