RIYADH, Oct 13 — Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, faces a major economic contraction this year, the IMF said today, as deadly attacks by Yemen’s Houthis squeeze a country already suffering from the Middle East war.
Saudi Arabia’s GDP is expected to shrink by 3.3 per cent, the International Monetary Fund said in its latest World Economic Outlook report, predicting a regional drop over Iran’s blockading of the Strait of Hormuz.
The report was compiled before 13 people were killed on Saturday — the deadliest attack in Saudi Arabia in more than a decade — during a series of lethal Houthi strikes on Riyadh’s international airport.
The kingdom was already facing headwinds from Iran’s chokehold on Hormuz, a vital shipping route for oil and gas, since the start of the Middle East war in February, when the US and Israel attacked Iran.
