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The International Monetary Fund predicted on Wednesday that Saudi Arabia"s economy will expand 7.6% this year, up from 3.2% in 2021, thanks to increasing oil earnings.

Saudi Arabia"s economic growth is anticipated to surpass that of the United States this year due to high oil prices.

The IMF again lowered its 2022 US growth prediction to 2.3% from 2.9% in late June after recent data revealed weaker consumer spending, saying it will be "increasingly tough" to prevent a recession in the US.

As more Saudis, notably women, enter the workforce, the government"s Vision 2030 reform programme, which aims to lessen the kingdom"s reliance on oil, has also bolstered the economy, according to the IMF.

According to the report, the economy recovered with strong growth, controlled inflation, and a thriving banking sector thanks to liquidity and fiscal assistance, reform momentum under Vision 2030, and high oil prices and output.

"Overall growth was strong at 3.2% in 2021, especially led by a recovering non-oil economy — supported by increasing employment for Saudi nationals, particularly women."

The IMF forecasted GDP growth of 3.7% in 2023 but claimed that in 2022, GDP growth was "anticipated to improve sharply to 7.6 percent, despite tightening monetary policy, fiscal austerity, and a, thus far, minimal fall-out from the war in Ukraine."

Inflation in the kingdom was kept under control in 2021 at 3.1%, and the IMF forecast that it would be little changed this year at 2.8%, despite rising rates in much of the developed world.

The fund said that the double-digit wholesale rising prices and rising shipping costs that were harming the global economy were mostly responsible for the "poor pass through" of those costs.

The total fiscal balance improved by over nine percentage points last year, to a deficit of 2.3% of GDP, thanks to higher non-oil economic tax revenues and higher oil income growth, according to the IMF.

The current account was improved by 8.5 percentage points in 2021 as a result of higher oil prices and increased oil production, resulting in a surplus of 5.3% of GDP as robust oil-driven exports outpaced rising imports and significant remittance outflows.

Crude prices have soared as a result of Russia"s conflict in Ukraine and a post-pandemic rise in demand. They are still close to $100 per barrel despite having decreased by $30 since a peak in June.

Although the high price of oil has contributed significantly to the inflationary anguish felt by people around the world, it has also provided a windfall profit for oil producers and major oil companies.

The world"s largest quarterly adjusted profit of any publicly traded firm was revealed by Saudi Aramco, the world"s largest oil company, on Sunday. It was $48.4 billion.

The world"s largest oil producer saw a 90 percent increase in net income year over year as it set a second consecutive quarterly record after reporting $39.5 billion for the first three months of the year.

Since Mohammed bin Salman was appointed as the country"s de facto leader and appointed as the country"s crown prince in 2017, Saudi Arabia has worked to diversify and open up its oil-dependent economy.

The oil boom, according to energy analyst Ibrahim Elghitany of Abu Dhabi, was a "great opportunity" for the kingdom since it would generate the significant surpluses necessary to fund its non-oil growth goals.