- IMF, Saudi Arabia Deepen US$279 Million Capacity Development Partnership
The International Monetary Fund and Saudi Arabia have deepened their strategic partnership on capacity development, agreeing on a suite of support measures aimed at strengthening economic reforms and resilience across the Middle East, North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa and other IMF member countries.
The agreement followed the second High-Level Strategic Dialogue on Capacity Development, held in Riyadh between the IMF and Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Finance.
In a joint statement after a visit to Saudi Arabia, Jihad Azour, Director of the IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia Department, and Catriona Purfield, Director of the IMF’s Institute for Capacity Development, said the talks focused on how the Saudi Arabia-IMF partnership could respond to rising demand for capacity development at a time of heightened global and regional uncertainty, including the ongoing war in the Middle East.
The dialogue comes as many developing and emerging economies face renewed pressure from inflation risks, fiscal vulnerabilities, debt burdens, weak institutional capacity, and external shocks linked to geopolitical tensions and volatile commodity markets.
For the IMF, capacity development has increasingly become a central part of its engagement with member countries, complementing lending, surveillance and policy advice. It supports countries in strengthening public financial management, tax administration, central banking, financial supervision, statistics, governance, debt management and macroeconomic policy frameworks.
The Saudi Arabia-IMF capacity development partnership began in 2024 and amounts to US$279 million over 10 years, making Saudi Arabia the third-largest partner of the IMF’s capacity development work.
The first supports the Middle East and North Africa region, including through the IMF Regional Office in Riyadh, self-financed capacity development to Saudi Arabia, the Middle East Regional Technical Assistance Center in Lebanon, and the Somalia Country Fund.
The second pillar supports Sub-Saharan Africa through the IMF’s network of African Regional Capacity Development Centers.
The third pillar supports global priorities through the IMF’s thematic funds.
The IMF said the Regional Office in Riyadh was established to strengthen policy dialogue in the region, improve coordination and help respond to increasing demand for capacity development. It complements the work of the IMF’s Middle East Center for Economics and Finance in Kuwait and the Middle East Regional Technical Assistance Center in Lebanon.
According to the statement, the Riyadh office’s partnership with Saudi Arabia has already strengthened IMF support to member countries, including 31 activities across the MENA region and beyond, reaching more than 800 participants during the IMF’s 2026 fiscal year.
The IMF said the continued success of such strategic engagements highlights the importance of partnerships in driving economic transformation and contributing to regional and global economic stability.
The High-Level Dialogue was co-chaired by Abdulmuhsen Alkhalaf, Vice Minister of Finance of Saudi Arabia, and attended by senior Saudi officials and IMF representatives.
Participants included Abdullah bin Zarah, Assistant Minister; Turki Abalala, Assistant Deputy Minister; Mohammed El Rashed, Executive Director for Saudi Arabia at the IMF; Bert Kroese, IMF Chief Statistician, Data Officer and Director of the Statistics Department; Montfort Mlachila, Deputy Director of the IMF’s African Department; Franck Bousquet, Deputy Director of the Institute for Capacity Development; Abdoul Aziz Wane, Director of the IMF Regional Office in Riyadh; and Monique Newiak, Director of METAC.
Many countries on the continent are navigating difficult reform environments marked by high debt-service costs, domestic revenue weaknesses, currency pressures, energy-sector vulnerabilities, public finance constraints and rising demand for social spending.
Capacity development support can help governments build stronger institutions to manage reforms more effectively, especially in areas such as revenue mobilisation, expenditure control, debt transparency, monetary policy, financial stability and statistical reporting.
The Saudi-backed support through African Regional Capacity Development Centers therefore provides an additional channel for strengthening reform implementation across the continent.
The timing is also significant. The war in the Middle East has introduced new uncertainty into the global economic outlook, with potential spillovers through energy prices, food costs, shipping routes, inflation expectations and external financing conditions.
For countries already under fiscal and external pressure, stronger institutions and policy capacity will be critical to maintaining stability.
The IMF-Saudi partnership therefore reflects a broader shift in global economic cooperation, where capacity development is no longer treated as a technical afterthought but as a strategic instrument for resilience.
For Saudi Arabia, the partnership reinforces its expanding role in global economic diplomacy and development finance. For the IMF, it strengthens the resources available to support member countries beyond traditional lending programmes.
The deeper test will be whether this long-term partnership produces measurable institutional gains in the countries it supports — stronger revenue systems, better public finance management, more credible statistics, improved central bank operations and more resilient policy frameworks.
At a time when economic shocks are becoming more frequent and more complex, the IMF’s message is clear: money alone is not enough. Countries also need the institutional capacity to design, implement and sustain reforms.
