Browsing: IMF Outlook on MENA

• Fintech BKN301 will significantly aid MENA region’s fintech sector, which experts project to reach $3.45 billion by 2026.
• Two of the world’s three largest remittance corridors located in the UAE and Saudi Arabia handled $78 billion in payments in 2020, 6 equating to 7 percent of the GDP of the two nations combined.
• Currently, fintech companies attracted 48.3 percent of known startups funding on the continents in 2021 and 43.3 percent in 2022.

Fintech heavyweight BKN301 is eyeing fresh growth opportunities in the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) market, where the firm seeks to deploy its leading innovations in the industry. Its entry into MENA is set to accelerate the adoption of digital currency, even as expert project that the region’s market  will grow to $3.45 billion by 2026.

MENA fintech market on the rise

Africa’s digital transformation is paving the way for numerous advancements within the continent’s economy. Regional economies …

This comes as the IMF has downgraded economic prospects for countries in this cluster. The downgrades have, however, been offset relatively by projections for some commodity producers and exporters that were upgraded on the back of rising commodity prices.

The economic prospects between wealthy nations and low-income countries are expected to be divergent and this divergence will remain of great concern to multilateral lenders and world leaders. In wealthy nations, for example, aggregate output for the cluster economies is expected to regain its pre-pandemic trend path in 2022 and exceed it by 0.9% in 2024 whereas the cluster of nations comprise emerging markets and developing economies (excluding China) will remain 5.5% below their pre-pandemic forecasts in 2024.

This event should it occur as forecast will set back improvements in living standards.…