Western Asia GDP growth to slow down in 2023, 2024

This picture taken on December 11, 2019 shows a refinery in Jubail Industrial City, about 95 km north of Dammam in Saudi Arabia's eastern province overlooking the Gulf. Economic growth in Western Asia is projected to slow down in 2023 and 2024, according to a press release issued by the United Nations Information Centre in Beirut on Thursday.

According to the report UN World Economic Situation and Prospects WESP 2023, GDP growth in Western Asia is projected to slow to about 3.5 percent in 2023 and 3.4 percent in 2024, from 6.4 percent in 2022, according to the press release.

Major crude oil producers, including the member countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council and Iraq, experienced rapid economic expansion due to high oil prices and a significant increase in crude oil production, it showed.

It added that growth trends are expected to diverge in 2023 because of the commodity and food price spike triggered by the conflict in Ukraine.

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The region's non-oil producing countries suffered the adverse terms-of-trade impact of the commodity price spike, with growth taking a toll, the UN press release noted.

Domestic demand is expected to recover steadily while external economic conditions, including terms of access to international finance, are expected to remain tight, limiting growth prospects, according to the press release.

The currency of the region, including those pegged to the US dollar, will be under pressure, forcing them to maintain tight monetary stances. The global economic slowdown may weaken demand for crude oil and adversely affect the oil-producing economies in the region, it warned.