S. Arabia, IMF outline recovery plan for conflict-affected Middle East economies

By Aya Anwar On Feb 17, 2025

The Saudi Finance Ministry and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have issued on Monday a joint statement after co-hosting a high-level roundtable on supporting recovery in the Middle East’s conflict-affected economies. The rountable took place on the sidelines of the inaugural annual global Conference on Emerging Market Economies in Al Ula, Saudi Arabia, bringing together finance ministers of countries in the region, as well as representatives from the World Bank, and heads of other International Financial Institutions and the Arab Coordination Group.

The statement, released by IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva and Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed Aljadaan, emphasised the urgency of addressing the humanitarian and economic recovery needs of war-torn countries in the Middle East. The two parties highlighted the importance of international coordination in these efforts, stressing that the challenges faced by these nations have regional repercussions.

“Participants agreed on the following priorities to support conflict-affected countries:

A Continuous Diagnostic of the challenges and economic and social context facing each conflict-affected country, including an assessment of humanitarian and reconstruction needs. Such a diagnostic should identify institution-building priorities, gaps in policies, and financing needs.
Enhanced Capacity Development (CD) aimed at rapidly scaling up IMF and World Bank CD initiatives to help strengthen and, as needed, build new institutions. Support would need to be tailored to strengthen essential functions of fiscal, monetary and banking institutions.
Mobilisation of financial assistance from the international community . Financial support—coordinated with international and regional development partners—will be needed to fund comprehensive reform programmes, including reconstruction and humanitarian aid.”

The statement further confirmed the creation of an informal coordination group to support these efforts, with additional discussions planned at the upcoming IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington, D.C., from April 21-26, 2025.

Attribution: Amwal Al Ghad English

Subediting: Y.Yasser

Continuous Diagnostics D.C.Economic Recovery Enhanced Capacity Development IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington informal coordination group International Monetary Fund (IMF)