A sharp global growth slowdown and concerns about an impending global recession are weighing on commodity prices. Some energy prices remain elevated, however, amid geopolitical tensions and persistent supply disruptions. Brent crude oil prices are forecast to average $92/bbl in 2023 and ease to...

After a strong start in early 2022, the largest COVID-19 wave in two years and resulting mobility restrictions have disrupted China's growth normalization. The global environment has also significantly worsened following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Real gross domestic product (GDP) growth is...

The Moroccan economy is recovering. Following a sharp deceleration in 2022 caused by various overlapping commodity and climatic shocks, economic growth increased to 2.9 percent in the first semester of 2023, driven primarily by services and net exports. Inflation has halved between February and...

Global economic activity registered resilient growth in early 2023 but is losing momentum. Advanced economies growth slowed less-than-anticipated inearly 2023 as tight labor markets drove wages up, preventing a sharp decline in consumption. However, global growth slowed slightly in Q2 2023, with...

Despite persistent macroeconomic instability, economic growth continued to recover in 2023, underpinned largely by a steady improvement in the service sector. GDP growth is forecast at 3.7 percent in 2023, slightly down from the projection in May 2023, primarily reflecting higher-than-expected...

Lebanon is hit by yet another crisis: the spillover effects of the conflict in the Middle East. While the country remains mired in political and institutional vacuum, and a crippling socioeconomic crisis for over four years, it has now been hit by another large shock: fear that the current...

Notwithstanding slower global growth and lingering impacts of recent catastrophic floods, private sector activity, outside the oil sector, has been supported by a relative return to peace, and higher government spending. Nevertheless, the economy is estimated to have contracted by 0.4 percent in...