Today’s higher oil prices may have helped Arab Gulf economies to grow again, but risks remain with economies still vulnerable to sharp oil price movements, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in its November regional economic outlook on Tuesday. Another risk to Arab Gulf economies stem from possible delays in much-needed diversification reforms due to complacency with the higher oil prices. The combined economies in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)—Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)—are expected to grow at 2.4 percent this year and 3 percent next year, after they contracted by 0.4 percent last year, the IMF said. Growth in non-GCC oil exporting nations, on the other hand, is forecast to slow to 0.3 percent this year from 3 percent in 2017, and to pick up slightly to 0.9 percent in 2019, largely due to the impact of the renewed U.S. sanctions […]