Reuters:

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects Saudi Arabia’s economy to grow 0.2% this year, down from an earlier estimate of 1.9%, due largely to oil output cuts.

The impact to growth of last month’s attack on Saudi oil facilities - which initially halved production of the world’s biggest crude exporter - was difficult to assess but it “adds uncertainty to the near-term outlook,” the IMF said in its World Economic Outlook report published on Tuesday.

The Saudi economy, the largest in the Arab world, has suffered in recent years because of low oil prices and austerity measures aimed at reducing a huge budget deficit.

In 2017, it shrank for the first time since the global financial crisis almost a decade earlier, but last year, it grew 2.2%, boosted by a strong oil sector.

The economy remains dominated by hydrocarbon revenues despite Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s assertion that he aims to diversify it.

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