The governments of the Arab countries, represented by the central banks and ministries of finance, have adopted incentive packages worth nearly $ 180 billion (9.5% of the GDP of the Arab countries) to date, with the aim of supporting sectors and groups affected, and reducing the expected impact caused by the virus restricting the movement of activity in a number of Basic economic sectors to enter families and companies. The stimulus packages included several interventions that ranged from directing more financial allocations to support health systems, reducing interest by rates ranging from 1.5 to 3.0 percentage points, reducing mandatory reserve ratios, pumping liquidity into the banking sector to support credit, and postponing loan installments and interest due to affected sectors And the affected groups. Interventions also included the application of generalized basic income programs in some Arab countries.
According to an optimistic hypothesis, and assuming that the economic impact of the emerging corona virus is expected to be contained during the first half of 2020 and that large-scale closures over time do not occur, the rate of growth of Arab economies is expected to drop to half of the expected rates before the spread of the virus. But if the impact of the spread of the virus extends to the whole of 2020, it is expected that the Arab economies will witness an economic recession during the current year. On the other hand, a relative recovery in the performance of Arab economies is expected in 2021, reflecting the improvement in the levels of global demand and international trade and the rise in world oil prices.
The Arab Monetary Fund launched the April edition of the “Arab Economic Prospects” report, which includes an update of the economic performance forecasts for Arab countries on several levels, including economic growth, trends in the development of domestic prices, monetary and financial conditions, and expectations regarding the external sector in Arab countries during 2020 and 2021.
Saudi 24 News
12/04/2020
