Mideast growth to slow in 2024 on oil cuts, Gaza: IMF | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Sunday
June 15, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
SUNDAY, JUNE 15, 2025
Mideast growth to slow in 2024 on oil cuts, Gaza: IMF

Global Economy

Reuters
12 February, 2024, 09:05 am
Last modified: 12 February, 2024, 09:11 am

Related News

  • Israeli firing kills 41 people in Gaza, medics say
  • Israeli fire kills 35 people in Gaza, many at aid site, medics say
  • At least 52 killed in Gaza amid Israeli strikes as UN demands ceasefire
  • Israel set to deport eight activists, including French MEP, over Gaza boat
  • UN to vote on resolution demanding Gaza ceasefire, hostage release and aid access

Mideast growth to slow in 2024 on oil cuts, Gaza: IMF

The IMF last month edged its forecast for global economic growth higher, upgrading the outlook for both the United States and China and citing faster-than-expected easing of inflation

Reuters
12 February, 2024, 09:05 am
Last modified: 12 February, 2024, 09:11 am
The International Monetary Fund Managing Director, Kristalina Georgieva, speaks at a conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, October 3, 2022. REUTERS/Ahmed Yosri
The International Monetary Fund Managing Director, Kristalina Georgieva, speaks at a conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, October 3, 2022. REUTERS/Ahmed Yosri

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said yesterday Middle East economies were lagging below growth projections due to oil production cuts and the Israel-Gaza conflict, even as the global economic outlook remained resilient.

Despite uncertainties, "the global economy has been surprisingly resilient," IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva told the Arab Fiscal Forum in Dubai, while warning of a potential wider impact on regional economies of continued conflict in Gaza.

In a regional economic report last month, the IMF revised its GDP growth forecast for the Middle East and North Africa down to 2.9% this year, lagging below October projections, due in part to short term oil production cuts and the conflict in Gaza.

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

The IMF last month edged its forecast for global economic growth higher, upgrading the outlook for both the United States and China and citing faster-than-expected easing of inflation.

Georgieva said economies neighbouring Israel and the Palestinian territories saw the conflict weighing on tourism revenues, while Red Sea attacks weighed on freight costs globally.

Those factors compounded "the challenges of economies that are still recovering from previous shocks," she told the forum on the sidelines of the World Governments Summit in Dubai.

The Iran-aligned Houthis in Yemen have been targeting commercial vessels with drones and missiles in the Red Sea since mid-November, and say their attacks are in solidarity with Palestinians as Israel strikes Hamas militants in Gaza. But the US and its allies characterize them as indiscriminate and a menace to global trade.

Several global shippers have been diverting traffic to the Cape of Good Hope, a longer route than through Egypt's Suez Canal.

Egypt's Finance Minister Mohamed Maait told Reuters on the sidelines of the summit that part of the impact of the diversion on Suez Canal revenues could be absorbed due to good growth in "the period before the events."

AI tsunami

The IMF will publish today a paper that shows phasing out energy subsidies could save $336 billion in the Middle East, equivalent to the economies of Iraq and Libya combined, Georgieva said.

Georgieva said that eliminating regressive energy subsidies also "discourages pollution, and helps improve social spending."

In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, fossil fuel subsidies made up 19% of GDP in 2022, the IMF has said.

It has recommended the gradual unwinding of energy subsidies for the region's economies, including oil exporters, and suggested targeted support as an alternative.

Advanced technology, including Artificial Intelligence, is a key theme of focus at the World Governments Summit, with several top executives from major global tech firms due to speak, including Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI.

Georgieva said globally, 40% of jobs are exposed to AI, and countries that lack the infrastructure and a skilled workforce to invest could fall behind.

Regional economies such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia have significantly increased investment in AI as part of strategies to diversify income sources.

 

Top News / World+Biz / Middle East

Gaza / IMF

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • BNP gears up for polls — preps ongoing from grassroots to top brass 
    BNP gears up for polls — preps ongoing from grassroots to top brass 
  • Non-performing loans surge by Tk74,570cr in Q1 as hidden rot exposed
    Non-performing loans surge by Tk74,570cr in Q1 as hidden rot exposed
  • Representational image of school children. File photo: Collected
    Govt issues urgent guidelines to educational institutes to curb Covid, dengue spread

MOST VIEWED

  • Vehicles were seen stuck on the Dhaka-Tangail-Jamuna Bridge highway due to a traffic jam stretching 15 kilometres on 14 June 2025. Photo: TBS
    15km traffic jam on Dhaka-Tangail-Jamuna Bridge highway as post-Eid rush continues
  • Tour operator Borsha Islam. Photo: Collected
    ‘Tour Expert’ admin Borsha Islam arrested over Bandarban tourist deaths
  • Infographic: TBS
    Chattogram Port proposes 70%-100% tariff hike
  • Fighter jet. Photo: AFP
    3 F-35 fighter jets downed, two Israeli pilots in custody, claims Iranian media
  • Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H Mansur. TBS Sketch
    Merger of 5 Islamic banks at final stage: BB governor
  • Infograph: TBS
    Why 10 economic zones, including BGMEA's garment park, were cancelled

Related News

  • Israeli firing kills 41 people in Gaza, medics say
  • Israeli fire kills 35 people in Gaza, many at aid site, medics say
  • At least 52 killed in Gaza amid Israeli strikes as UN demands ceasefire
  • Israel set to deport eight activists, including French MEP, over Gaza boat
  • UN to vote on resolution demanding Gaza ceasefire, hostage release and aid access

Features

Renowned authors Imdadul Haque Milon, Mohit Kamal, and poet–children’s writer Rashed Rouf seen at Current Book Centre, alongside the store's proprietor, Shahin. Photo: Collected

From ‘Screen and Culture’ to ‘Current Book House’: Chattogram’s oldest surviving bookstore

4h | Panorama
Photos: Collected

Kurtis that make a great office wear

2d | Mode
Among pet birds in the country, lovebirds are the most common, and they are also the most numerous in the haat. Photo: Junayet Rashel

Where feathers meet fortune: How a small pigeon stall became Dhaka’s premiere bird market

4d | Panorama
Illustration: Duniya Jahan/ TBS

Forget Katy Perry, here’s Bangladesh’s Ruthba Yasmin shooting for the moon

5d | Features

More Videos from TBS

Macron to visit Greenland after Trump's annexation threat

Macron to visit Greenland after Trump's annexation threat

31m | TBS World
Important facilities including Natanz damaged in Israeli attack

Important facilities including Natanz damaged in Israeli attack

46m | Others
Iran's gas production from South Pars halted after Israeli attack

Iran's gas production from South Pars halted after Israeli attack

1h | TBS World
Why the Strait of Hormuz is a key point of discussion in the Iran-Israel conflict

Why the Strait of Hormuz is a key point of discussion in the Iran-Israel conflict

1h | Others
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net