The IMF has warned that the Arab world risks another “lost decade” if governments fail to invest in technology and implement reforms to accelerate the recovery of economies that have been battered by the pandemic.
Jihad Azour, the fund’s director for the Middle East, told the Financial Times that governments in the region, which are grappling with diminishing resources, rising debts and rampant youth unemployment, had to “learn from the past”.
“After the global financial crisis, it took the countries of the region much longer than the average emerging economy to regain their previous level of growth,” said Mr Azour, a former finance minister of Lebanon. “The risk now is that there are countries that will not be able to regain their 2019 level [of output] until 2022, and some who won’t reach it for five years.”
Even before the coronavirus outbreak, poorer oil-importing countries in the region had failed to tackle high poverty rates and joblessness in the decade since social and economic grievances fuelled the Arab uprisings. The pandemic has exacerbated the problem by shuttering the tourism industry vital for employment and foreign currency earnings, and damaging other sectors.
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