Dubai – Mubasher: The Arab countries have undergone various monetary reforms during the last period, including the rationalisation of the government spending, the development of debt strategies, and tax reforms, the Arab Monetary Fund’s (AMF) director general Abdulrahman Al Hamidy on Saturday stated.
The measures taken by the Arab states contributed to a decline in their budget deficit average to register 6.3% of their gross domestic product (GDP) in 2017, compared to a 10.3% average deficit in 2016, Al Hamidy added.
These figures are expected to be even better in 2018, with a forecast average deficit of 5.1% of the Arab countries' GDP, the top official commented.
The structural reforms in the previous years were aimed at cutting energy subsidies and reduced their value to $98 billion in 2017 versus $117 billion in 2015, according to a report released by the AMF.
