IMF’s Georgieva Confident in Global Economic Outlook
During the World Governments Summit in Dubai, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgieva, expressed her confidence in the global economic outlook despite uncertainties surrounding war and geopolitics. She emphasized the resilience of the global economy and stated that the IMF would publish a paper on Monday highlighting the potential savings from phasing out explicit energy subsidies in the Middle East.
Georgieva revealed that eliminating regressive energy subsidies could save $336 billion in the Middle East, equivalent to the economies of Iraq and Libya combined. This not only leads to substantial savings but also discourages pollution and facilitates improved social spending, as outlined in a speech published on the IMF website.
Despite the IMF revising its GDP growth forecast for the Middle East and North Africa region downwards to 2.9% this year, Georgieva expressed cautious optimism about the economic outlook. She highlighted the surprising resilience of the global economy, attributing it to the current uncertainties.
Addressing the conflict in Gaza, Georgieva warned about the widening consequences, emphasizing the challenges faced by economies that are still recovering from previous shocks. She underscored the economic harm that could result from further escalation of the conflict.
Georgieva’s confidence in the global economic outlook and her emphasis on the potential savings from energy subsidy reforms shed light on the complexities and uncertainties faced by the global economy, offering insights into the IMF’s perspective on these issues.
