Saudi economy to grow 1.2% in 2018: World Bank

Growth in Saudi Arabia is forecast to accelerate to 1.2 percent in 2018 from 0.3 percent in 2017, driven by increase in infrastructure spending and easing pace of fiscal adjustment, the World Bank said on Wednesday.

The forecast for 2018 has been revised downward from 2 percent reported in its Global Outlook report issued in June 2017. The amendment followed a slower economy growth last year due to oil output cuts and fiscal consolidation, the bank said in its 2018 Global Economics Prospects.

Saudi Arabia's projected growth rate for 2019 will increase to 2.1 percent and remain stable at 2.2 percent in 2020.

Overall, economic growth among GCC states is forecast to pick up to 2 percent this year from 0.7 percent in 2017, supported by easing fiscal adjustment, infrastructure investments such as the UAE Expo 2020, and reforms of non-oil sector activity.

The Middle East and North Africa region will see growth rising to 3 percent from 1.8 percent in 2017, according the report.

Meanwhile, the World Bank predicted that global economy will grow 3.1 percent in 2018, its best performance in seven years, backed by the recovery of investment, manufacture and trade, and commodity-exporting developing economies benefiting from firming commodity prices.

Growth in emerging markets and developing economies is set to strengthen to 4.5 percent, as activity in commodity exporters continues to recover. Growth in advanced economies is likely to moderate slightly to 2.2 percent.