Saudi Predicted to Clock Highest Non-Oil Sector Growth in 2023
Saudi Arabia is projected to clock the highest non-oil sector growth in 2023, closely followed by the UAE within the GCC grouping, a leading economist said.
However, in terms of overall GDP (gross domestic growth) growth numbers, Saudi Arabia is expected to be impacted the most if the additional oil cut target announced by the country in May persists in the second half of the year.
The GCC growth projections for the rest of the year comes amidst economists seeing a likely sharp slowdown in headline GDP growth numbers in the third quarter of the year as well due to the oil production cuts.
“Headline GDP growth is likely to have slowed quite sharply in Q2 and Q3 as the impact of OPEC+ production cuts is felt,” Scott Livermore, Chief Economist and Managing Director at Oxford Economics and Economic Advisor to ICAEW, said.
