Saudi-Omani Forum to Witness Signing of Economic MoUs

The forum is expected to witness the signing of memoranda of understanding with the aim to enhance economic, investment and trade cooperation between Saudi Arabia and Oman. Asharq Al-Awsat
The forum is expected to witness the signing of memoranda of understanding with the aim to enhance economic, investment and trade cooperation between Saudi Arabia and Oman. Asharq Al-Awsat
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Saudi-Omani Forum to Witness Signing of Economic MoUs

The forum is expected to witness the signing of memoranda of understanding with the aim to enhance economic, investment and trade cooperation between Saudi Arabia and Oman. Asharq Al-Awsat
The forum is expected to witness the signing of memoranda of understanding with the aim to enhance economic, investment and trade cooperation between Saudi Arabia and Oman. Asharq Al-Awsat

An economic forum is scheduled to be held in Muscat on Monday in the presence of Saudi and Omani ministers and representatives of the private sector during the visit of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the Sultanate.

The forum is expected to witness the signing of memoranda of understanding to enhance economic, investment and trade cooperation between the two countries.

In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, the Chairman of the Saudi-Omani Business Council, Nasser bin Saeed Al-Hajri, said that the visit of the Crown Prince to Muscat will demonstrate “the unity of positions ... in the face of all challenges.”

A fundamental role will be played by the Saudi and Omani Business Owners Council in supporting the volume of business and joint projects between the two sides, according to Al-Hajri, who also noted that bilateral meetings between the business councils have made many achievements, in line with the Saudi Vision 2030 and the Omani Vision 2040, to diversify the economy and establish strong and joint economic entities.

According to Al-Hajri, the Muscat meetings will seek to exploit the available investment opportunities and achieve economic integration between the two sides, stressing that the political will has played a pivotal role in removing all obstacles facing the investors in the two countries.

He said that the business sectors in Saudi Arabia and Oman, shortly before and during the recent visit of Sultan Haitham bin Tariq to the Kingdom, signed several agreements for partnerships in industrial cities, logistics and renewable energy, while an Omani delegation had previously offered 150 investment opportunities to Saudis worth USD4 billion in various vital fields.

According to the National Center for Statistics and Information in Oman, the volume of trade exchange between the two countries amounted to 10 billion riyals (USD2.6 billion dollars) in 2020.



IMF Chief Sees Steady World Growth in 2025, Continuing Disinflation

 People visit the lantern festival at the Beijing's Wenyuhe Park in Beijing on January 4, 2025, to welcome the upcoming Chinese New Year on January 29, marking the beginning of the Year of the Snake. (AFP)
People visit the lantern festival at the Beijing's Wenyuhe Park in Beijing on January 4, 2025, to welcome the upcoming Chinese New Year on January 29, marking the beginning of the Year of the Snake. (AFP)
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IMF Chief Sees Steady World Growth in 2025, Continuing Disinflation

 People visit the lantern festival at the Beijing's Wenyuhe Park in Beijing on January 4, 2025, to welcome the upcoming Chinese New Year on January 29, marking the beginning of the Year of the Snake. (AFP)
People visit the lantern festival at the Beijing's Wenyuhe Park in Beijing on January 4, 2025, to welcome the upcoming Chinese New Year on January 29, marking the beginning of the Year of the Snake. (AFP)

The International Monetary Fund will forecast steady global growth and continuing disinflation when it releases an updated World Economic Outlook on Jan. 17, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva told reporters on Friday.

Georgieva said the US economy was doing "quite a bit better" than expected, although there was high uncertainty around the trade policies of the administration of President-elect Donald Trump that was adding to headwinds facing the global economy and driving long-term interest rates higher.

With inflation moving closer to the US Federal Reserve's target, and data showing a stable labor market, the Fed could afford to wait for more data before undertaking further interest rate cuts, she said. Overall, interest rates were expected to stay "somewhat higher for quite some time," she said.

The IMF will release an update to its global outlook on Jan. 17, just days before Trump takes office. Georgieva's comments are the first indication this year of the IMF's evolving global outlook, but she gave no detailed projections.

In October, the IMF raised its 2024 economic growth forecasts for the US, Brazil and Britain but cut them for China, Japan and the euro zone, citing risks from potential new trade wars, armed conflicts and tight monetary policy.

At the time, it left its forecast for 2024 global growth unchanged at the 3.2% projected in July, and lowered its global forecast for 3.2% growth in 2025 by one-tenth of a percentage point, warning that global medium-term growth would fade to 3.1% in five years, well below its pre-pandemic trend.

"Not surprisingly, given the size and role of the US economy, there is keen interest globally in the policy directions of the incoming administration, in particular on tariffs, taxes, deregulation and government efficiency," Georgieva said.

"This uncertainty is particularly high around the path for trade policy going forward, adding to the headwinds facing the global economy, especially for countries and regions that are more integrated in global supply chains, medium-sized economies, (and) Asia as a region."

Georgieva said it was "very unusual" that this uncertainty was expressed in higher long-term interest rates even though short-term interest rates had gone down, a trend not seen in recent history.

The IMF saw divergent trends in different regions, with growth expected to stall somewhat in the European Union and to weaken "a little" in India, while Brazil was facing somewhat higher inflation, Georgieva said.

In China, the world's second-largest economy after the United States, the IMF was seeing deflationary pressure and ongoing challenges with domestic demand, she said.

Lower-income countries, despite reform efforts, were in a position where any new shocks would hit them "quite negatively," she said.

Georgieva said it was notable that higher interest rates needed to combat inflation had not pushed the global economy into recession, but headline inflation developments were divergent, which meant central bankers needed to carefully monitor local data.

The strong US dollar could potentially result in higher funding costs for emerging market economies and especially low-income countries, she said.

Most countries needed to cut fiscal spending after high outlays during the COVID pandemic and adopt reforms to boost growth in a durable way, she said, adding that in most cases this could be done while protecting their growth prospects.

"Countries cannot borrow their way out. They can only grow out of this problem," she said, noting that the medium-growth prospects for the world were the lowest seen in decades.