IMF expects Arab foreign exchange reserves to decline in 2017

The International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday that it expects the total foreign reserves in Arab countries to fall by 5.6 per cent to $1 trillion by the end of this year. According to IMF data, such reserves amounted to $1.060 trillion in 2016, compared to $1.172 trillion s in the previous year.

The data covers 19 Arab countries, with Saudi Arabia, the largest Arab economy, showing foreign exchange reserves at the end of 2016 valued at $540.4 billion, a fall of 11.7 per cent on the figure for 2015. The IMF expects that Saudi’s total foreign reserves will stand at $494.6 billion by the end of this year.

Read: Saudi bank assets plummet to lowest level in 5 years

Algeria is second on the IMF list, with reserves of $120.2 billion last year, followed by the United Arab Emirates with $95.2 billion, Libya with $62.7 billion and Qatar with $43.6 billion.

Although Jordan’s foreign exchange reserves of $16.7 billion in 2016 is a relatively low figure compared to the big players in the oil industry, last year it actually recorded an increase on the previous year, when reserves stood at $16.6 billion.