(Financial Times) — Economies across the Middle East need to introduce fiscal restraint and deeper reform to safeguard their futures, says the International Monetary Fund.
The IMF’s biannual regional economic outlook projects growth in the Middle East and north Africa of 5.1 per cent in 2012 — up from 3.3 per cent in 2011. But next year, growth is forecast to slow to 3.6 per cent as oil production remains flat.
The IMF urged both the region’s wealthier oil exporters and struggling oil importers, including transitional states recovering from revolutions of the “Arab spring”, to make policy changes to strengthen their economies and deliver more equitable outcomes for their people.
