IMF Chief: Attacks on Saudi Arabia could have ‘negative spillover everywhere’

BANGKOK — The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Wednesday that developments in Saudi Arabia potentially have “negative spillovers for everybody everywhere.” Speaking at the IMF Managing Director’s briefing on the Global Policy Agenda during the 2026 IMF-World Bank Group Annual Meetings in Bangkok on Wednesday, she praised Saudi leadership for pursuing structural reforms in recent years. Georgieva noted the resilience of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), including Gulf diversification efforts and non-oil sector economic growth before and since the conflict. "This has put buffers that are now paying great dividends to the authorities and the people in the Gulf," Georgieva said. The briefing was part of the 2026 Annual Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank in Bangkok, Thailand. The six-day event, which will conclude on Oct. 18, brings together representatives of 191 member countries with policymakers, journalists, and civil society leaders. Earlier this month, Georgieva said the impact of the regional war has been significant in reversing the region’s growth momentum. “The near closure of Hormuz and now disruptions in the Red Sea have sharply curtailed oil and gas exports; damage to energy facilities has reduced production capacity; and non-hydrocarbon activity has been constrained by reduced trade, weaker business confidence, and rising prices of essential goods,” the IMF chief said at the recent meeting of the ministers of finance and central bank governors of the GCC. It is noteworthy that the IMF, in its October 2026 World Economic Outlook report released on Tuesday, has raised its forecast for Saudi Arabia’s economic growth in 2027 to 7.9 percent, up from its previous projection of 5.5 percent issued last July, marking an increase of 2.4 percentage points. In its report, the IMF revised its forecast for the Kingdom’s economy in 2026 to a contraction of 3.3 percent, compared with its previous forecast of growth of 1.7 percent. The IMF affirmed that the Saudi economy is more resilient to geopolitical instability than some other economies in the region, thanks to its diversified energy export routes, which help mitigate the impact of supply chain and transportation disruptions. The report also projected that the Kingdom’s inflation rate would decline to 1.9 percent this year, compared with 2 percent in 2025, before rising to 2.2 percent in 2027.