More pain to come for Mideast economies

The Middle East is not yet through the worst of the economic crisis because non-performing loans are likely to rise and the full impact of declines in tourism and remittances has still to be felt, experts warned on Friday.

Masood Ahmed, director of the Middle East and Central Asia at the International Monetary Fund, predicted that the level of NPLs would increase in the second half of the year.

He said the most banks in the region were relatively well-capitalised and could expect support from their shareholders if needed. But he added: “We should be watching what is happening in the banking sector.”