Bangladesh has formally requested a temporary sanctions waiver from the United States to import roughly 600,000 metric tonnes of Russian diesel to cover two months of demand as its energy crisis intensifies, Reuters reported on Monday, with officials pointing to Washington’s recent 30-day waiver granted to India as precedent.
Partly because of that supply increase, the Washington-based fund has upgraded its forecast for Saudi economic growth to 4% for this year, compared with an earlier estimate of 3%, according to the latest regional economic report published Tuesday.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has downgraded its growth forecast for the Saudi economy due to ongoing oil production cuts by OPEC+. The IMF now sees 2024 growth clocking in at just 1.7%, nearly a percentage point lower than its earlier projection of 2.6%. The effects of the cuts are expected to spill over into the coming year, with the IMF projecting GDP growth of 4.7% in 2025, a downward revision of 1.3 percentage points from April.
In the UK, anxiety over the crisis after Iran’s missile strike on Israel drives down UK shares
Crude oil prices will slide by 24.1% to an average $73.1 a barrel in 2023, the International Monetary Fund has stated in its April 2023 World Economic Outlook Report.