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Mr. George T. Abed
and
Mr. Hamid R Davoodi

Abstract

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is an economically diverse region. Despite undertaking economic reforms in many countries, and having considerable success in avoiding crises and achieving macroeconomic stability, the region’s economic performance in the past 30 years has been below potential. This paper takes stock of the region’s relatively weak performance, explores the reasons for this out come, and proposes an agenda for urgent reforms.

Abstract

This book brings together recent IMF research on how the Middle East and North African countries are grappling with various macroeconomic challenges. It rigorously analyzes policy alternatives for a range of relevant topics, including the implications of changing demographic trends for growth and unemployment, determinants of inflation, financial-sector reform and Islamic banking, fiscal sustainability in oil-dependent economies, exchange rate and trade arrangements, and impediments to foreign direct investment. The book’s overall theme-self-sustaining and faster growth can be achieved through comprehensive structural reforms and closer collaboration between the region’s policymakers and the international community.

Ms. Rina Bhattacharya
,
Tarik Yousef
, and
Mr. Pierre Dhonte
The working age population is expected to grow faster in the Middle East than in any other region in the world between now and 2015—rising annually by 2.7 percent, or 10 million people. This demographic explosion presents the region with a major challenge in terms of providing jobs, incomes, and housing for the growing population, but the expanding labor force can also be seen as an opportunity to generate higher per capita income growth on a sustainable basis. The paper concludes by emphasizing the importance of market-friendly institutions in turning the challenge into opportunity.
International Monetary Fund. External Relations Dept.
This paper analyzes how increasing population will impact the lives of people in the world in 2000. It underscores that in 2000, there will be more people, many living in crowded towns, suffering from even greater difficulties of transport and urban sprawl, both upward and outward. The provision of satisfactory housing for the mass of the population will be difficult, because, without subsidy, its construction would demand rentals equal at least to the occupant’s annual income, while to subsidize so many tenants would be impossible.