This Brief seeks to address the lack of systematic, comparable data on Russia’s engagement in West Africa. Such data is crucial for assessing the threat posed by Russian-sponsored FIMI, which often serves as a tool to advance broader strategic objectives in regions where Russia seeks to expand its influence
Shifting alliances in West Africa: Measuring Russian engagement to support counter-FIMI strategies
European Union Institute for Security Studies
This report highlights the urgent necessity for Arab region-specific policy solutions which take cultural and financial constraints into consideration. The report discussing case studies and data-driven perspectives that illustrate the region’s accomplishments as well as the deficiencies that still exist in sustainable consumption and consumer protection
Behavioural science and sustainable consumer protection: strategic insights for the Arab region
Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia
The jubilation on the streets of Tel Aviv and Ramallah suggests that there is considerable support for continued calm among Israelis and Palestinians. Yet much depends on upcoming negotiations regarding the next phases of the cease-fire agreement
Rebuilding Gaza will not be easy, but we must try
Middle East Institute
Countries across the world are struggling to navigate a difficult global economic land-scape characterized by persistent disruptions— from structural macroeconomic weaknesses, geo-political tensions, the increasing effects of climate change, health pandemics, and trade and tech-nology wars
Africas Macroeconomic Performance and Outlook
African Development Bank Group
The potential employment impacts of green and renewable energy in the Middle East and North Africa are multifaceted and promising. As this column explains, embracing renewable energy technologies presents an opportunity for the region to diversify its economy, mitigate the possible negative impacts of digitalization on existing jobs, reduce its carbon footprint and create significant levels of employment across a variety of sectors.
The green energy transition: employment pathways for MENA
Economic Research Forum
The Iranian economy is presently in crisis, which is reflected in a few basic indicators such as the inflation, economic growth and exchange rates. Official annual inflation has been above 30% since 2018, which has pushed a large segment of the middle class into poverty by undermining their purchasing power.
Approaching the precipe: Near-term prospects of Irans economy
Clingendael
Critical minerals like cobalt, lithium and copper are vital for the global economy and the defense industry. Recognizing their importance, major and middle powers are striving to secure reliable access for themselves. China in particular has grown its influence in these markets, controlling a significant portion of the world’s mining operations and refining capacities.
Reading of the Week: Accessing Africas critical raw materials
Geopolitical Intelligence Services
The share of humanity who live in conditions of poverty has been falling since at least 1980. Measured as the proportion of people who live on less than $2.15 a day, the figure has declined from above 40% to below 10% – or from 2 billion to fewer than 750 million in absolute terms (Hasell, 2022; Carbone & Ragazzi, 2023; Roser, 2024).
Decade of destitution? Severe lived poverty is surging in many African countries
Afro Barometer
This paper examines the gender-differentiated economic impacts stemming from the Russia–Ukraine war (RUW) on some of Africa’s economies, and potential macroeconomic policy objectives that may mitigate them.
Gender-sensitive macroeconomic policies in low- and middle-income economies
ODI Global
This research paper finds that rationalizing electricity prices and recasting the subsidy as a cash benefit would not only improve the welfare of Kuwaiti consumers but also reduce electricity demand and emissions by promoting efficient consumption
Distortionary Effects of Kuwaits Cheap Electricity
Baker Institute for Public Policy
South Africa took on the presidency of the G20 on December 1, 2024, placing the country at the center of this group of the world’s leading economies. While the G20 aims to promote global economic cooperation and development, skepticism about the effectiveness of its initiatives remains
South Africa takes G20 presidency amid rising global tensions
Geopolitical Intelligence Services
This study evaluates the economic costs for three Egyptian coastal cities of catastrophic flooding resulting from either sea-level rise or intense rainfall. Using a computable general equilibrium (CGE) framework, we assess the higher-order impacts of physical capital loss on both regional and national economies
The Economic Impacts of Flooding in Egyptian Port Cities
Policy Center for the New South
Great power competition between the United States and China has translated into a trade war featuring, among other issues, green protectionist policies. In the United States, this strategy is used to boost the country’s emerging green industries while reducing U.S. reliance on Chinese imports and containing China’s rise. Green protectionism is reshaping global trade dynamics and often harms Global South countries.
Reading of the Week: Great Power Competition and Green Protectionism
Stimson Center
Qatar is a high-income, resource-rich country, with an economy based around the exploitation of its vast fossil fuel reserves, particularly natural gas. As a result of the development of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and other fossil fuel-intensive industries that started in the 1990s, Qatar’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew from $18bn to $236bn (in 2024 USD) between the years 2000 and 2022.
The Challenges of Climate Change Mitigation and Economic Diversification in Qatar
Middle East Council on Global Affairs
This report explores Jordan’s progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the context of current economic, social, and structural challenges and their projected course until 2030. Since the adoption of the SDGs in 2015, Jordan has faced significant constraints, including its limited natural resources, high debt burden, water scarcity, and external shocks such as the Syrian refugee crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Accelerating the Progress of Jordan Towards the Sustainable Development Goals
Economic Research Forum
The next three sections of this paper examine the situation surrounding the ongoing sovereign debt restructurings involving Afreximbank and TDB. The subsequent two sections assess the broader evolution of Southern-led MDBs and the policy framework guiding how the IMF evaluates them, followed by conclusions and policy considerations.
What makes an MDB an MDB?
Overseas Development Institute
Africa’s growth prospects are stagnating and have declined in recent years, as evidenced by slow GDP growth rates and limited improvements in human development indices. This downward trend is reflected in the revised and updated analysis of our Current Path forecast on the African Futures website published in December 2024.
Africas growth prospects stagnant and under pressure
ISS African Futures
The decision by the AfCFTA Secretariat to establish the AfCFTA Implementation Review Mechanism (AFIRM) was mainly prompted by concerns relating to states parties’ slow implementation of the AfCFTA Agreement under which full trading was expected to commence in January 2021, which has not yet happened.
The WTOs Trade Policy Review Mechanism: Lessons for the AfCFTA Review Process
South African Institute of International Affairs
The January 2025 Chief Economists Outlook explores key trends in the global economy, including the latest outlook for growth, inflation, monetary and fiscal policy. It discusses the impact of US policy on the global economy, investigates fragmentation trends and discusses the turbulent outlook for global trade.
Chief Economists Outlook
World Economic Forum
The MENA region’s increasing access to digital information and internet usage has led to an explosion in e-commerce and widespread interest in cryptocurrencies. At the same time, cybercrime, which includes hacking, malware, online fraud and harassment, has spread across digital networks.
The threat of cybercrime in MENA economies
Economic Research Forum
Les perturbations successives des chaînes d’approvisionnement durant la décennie 2010 et les premières années de la décennie 2020 ont incité les décideurs politiques et économiques, notamment aux États-Unis et en Europe, à réfléchir à des moyens pour atténuer les risques associés à une forte dépendance vis-à-vis d’un nombre limité de fournisseurs, en particulier la Chine
Minerais critiques: positionner lAfrique dans la recomposition mondiale
Le Grand Continent
During his early December visit to Angola, US President Joe Biden pledged an additional $600 million to the Lobito Corridor project—an ambitious, US-backed infrastructure initiative linking the port of Lobito on Angola’s Atlantic coast to Zambia through the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
What to know about the Lobito Corridor, and how it may change how minerals move
Atlantic Council
Oil-dependent economies in the Gulf are looking to Chinese tech firms to drive technological progress in the region. Contrary to the narrative that Beijing is imposing its “digital model” on Gulf states, Chinese firms have adapted their strategies to adhere to the local political and regulatory realities in Gulf nations
Local Agency Is Shaping Chinas Digital Footprint in the Gulf
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Les perturbations successives des chaînes d’approvisionnement durant la décennie 2010 et les premières années de la décennie 2020 ont incité les décideurs politiques et économiques, notamment aux États-Unis et en Europe, à réfléchir à des moyens pour atténuer les risques associés à une forte dépendance vis-à-vis d’un nombre limité de fournisseurs, en particulier la Chine
Minerais critiques: positionner lAfrique dans la recomposition mondiale
Le Grand Continent
The Guide to empower women’s businesses in transition contexts in Africa is designed to advise practitioners, national and international development actors, and anyone supporting women’s entrepreneurship, on simple, targeted, and straightforward approaches to plan, implement, and assess interventions that aim to assist women entrepreneurs to pivot their businesses for resilience in times of tumultuous change, reduce risk, bounce back, and seize new opportunities.
Reading of the Week: Guide to Empower Womens Businesses in Transition Contexts in Africa
African Development Bank
Libya’s economic outlook relies heavily on the oil and gas sector, which constitutes a significant portion of its GDP, government revenue, and exports. With oil production expected to average 1.1 mbpd in 2024, GDP is anticipated to shrink by 2.7 percent this year
Libya Economic Monitor, Fall 2024: Stabilizing Growth and Boosting Productivity
World Bank
A political crisis has wracked the interim capital of Aden as the internationally recognized government struggles to deal with the plummeting Yemeni rial. The currency now trades at over YR2,000 to the dollar, having lost over a third of its value since the year began. Riven by political infighting and lacking the vision or tools to arrest the slide, an acute economic collapse appears imminent if significant and sustained financial support does not arrive.
Rescuing Yemens Economy
Sanaa Center Economic Unit
Sudan’s civil war continues to rage, with no sign that either the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) or Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) are close to a military victory or open to a ceasefire. Over 10 million civilians are displaced within Sudan or into neighbouring countries. Its economy is in ruins, with business centres transformed into battlefields. Severe hunger afflicts half the population, with famine emerging in Darfur.
Sudan Chad and Libya knit together as illicit markets enable conflict economy
ENACT Africa
The Indo-Mediterranean region faces escalating instability, from Houthi missile strikes disrupting maritime routes vital to piracy and regional conflicts in the Horn of Africa. A strategic IndoMed Quad—comprising the United States, United Arab Emirates, India, and Italy—offers a pragmatic framework to address these challenges
Reading of the Week: The Case for an IndoMed Quad: India, Italy, UAE, and US Cooperation
Foreign Policy Research Institute
Africa’s economic prospects have improved but growth remains fragile amidst multiple global and domestic shocks. The continent’s average real GDP growth is now projected at 3.2% in 2024, compared to 3.0% in 2023. The revised growth outlook represents a downgrade of 0.5 percentage points relative to the May 2024 AEO projections
Africas Macroeconomic Performance and Outlook. November 2024 update
African Development Bank
Tunisia faces a critical economic crossroads. With external debt exceeding 80% of GDP, a budget deficit over 7%, and food inflation at 9%, its financial vulnerabilities are acute. Financing the budget through the Central Bank risks worsening inflation, making a joint agreement with the IMF and EU a more viable solution.
The Importance of a Joint IMF and EU Agreement for Tunisia: Learning from Greeces Economic Turnaround
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Saudi Aramco is not only the largest oil producer globally but also the most profitable business, surpassing tech giants like Apple and Microsoft. Aramco is evolving far beyond its traditional role, now positioning itself at the forefront of economic diversification, technological innovation, and sustainability, aligning with the broader vision set forth by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to transform the Saudi economy and reduce its dependence on oil.
Aramcos Diversification Strategy: Fueling Saudi Arabias Vision 2030
The Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington
The hydrocarbon-rich Gulf states play a significant role in supplying the energy that fuels economic growth and declines in poverty rates. This role is especially pronounced across the Asian continent and the Pacific, where fossil fuels account for 85 percent of energy consumption
The evolving roles of the Gulf states in the low-carbon energy transition
Atlantic Council
The war on Lebanon, while selective and impacting some sectors less than others, has left no sector untouched. Niche businesses in the real economy — those small, specialized enterprises that often represent the heart of the community — are more vulnerable than large enterprises
From Struggle to Strength: Lebanons Agro-entrepreneurs in Uncertain Times
Executive
Global tax cooperation and the fight against illicit financial flows (IFFs) have become crucial in international economic governance, especially for African countries. As the global economy becomes more interconnected, base erosion and profit-shifting (BEPS) practices by multinational enterprises (MNEs) have intensified, leading to significant tax revenue losses
Reading of the Week: African Strategies to Combat Illicit Financial Flows
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
In Somalia, climate change disproportionately disrupts agricultural and pastoral livelihoods, driving harmful practices, such as resource overexploitation, which exacerbate conflicts. To address these challenges, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) promotes regenerative agriculture as a part of a broader environmental peacebuilding approach aiming to replace negative coping strategies with sustainable practices for long-term resilience
Cultivating Change: Regenerative Agriculture and Peacebuilding in South-central Somalia
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
Despite the prevailing narrative that Africa is falling behind in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), the continent is actually home to half of the world’s mobile money accounts, making it a pioneer in integrating 4IR technology into the financial services industry, according to 4C Group and GSMA.
Transforming the financial services sector in Africa with 4IR technologies
Brookings
Despite heightened focus in the West about dependence on China – and high-level efforts to recalibrate these relations at the strategic level – Europeans’ economic reliance on China has continued to grow in recent years. EU imports from China reached €515.9 billion in 2023, across a wide array of products, many of which are vital to advanced economies.
Reading Of The Week:Material world: How Europe can compete with China in the race for Africas critical minerals
European Council on Foreign Relations
The 2024 BRICS Summit made steady progress on cross-border payments and a new tier of international partners, signaling a shift in how non-Western nations approach financial cooperation. This year’s Summit reveals BRICS’ pragmatic moves toward a diversified global economy – how will shifting alignments influence the international order?
Reflections After the BRICS Summit: Membership, Payment Systems, and What Lies Ahead
Wilson Center
COP 29, which will be held in Baku between November 11-22, has been widely trailed as “the finance COP” and it is certainly true that decisions on how funding for mitigation and adaptation in the developing world is to be sourced and allocated will be fundamental to the success of the Conference.
Preparing for COP 29: Seven critical success factors
The Oxford Institute for Energy Studies
Highly vulnerable to climate change and already facing significant climate impacts, the countries of East Africa require both domestic and international climate finance to meet their climate goals, adapt to the impacts of climate change and build resilience. This study analyses the public international climate-related development finance reaching Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda, the three largest countries in the East Africa region.
Climate finance in East Africa
Danish Institute for International Studies
On October 16, the European Union (EU) and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are set to convene their first-ever summit in Brussels, marking a historic milestone in forging a strategic partnership between these two influential blocs. This inaugural summit underscores the mutual ommitment to enhancing economic, political, and security ties, setting the stage for a collaborative future.
Reading of the Week: Enhancing EU-Gulf Strategic Relations: An Analytical and Foresight-Driven Policy Framework
Brussels International Center
The digital revolution is not happening in a historical vacuum. It unfolds within a framework of confrontation or collusion between market forces and government forces. Depending on the market power that companies can exercise, the digital transition will have different impacts on income distributions between capital, labor, and land, as well as on income distribution within capital itself.
Capital, Labor, and Land in the Digital Transition
Policy Center for the New South
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is a game-changer for Africa's economic development, and Ghana is uniquely positioned to reap the rewards. With a thriving digital economy and proactive government policies, Ghana is ready to embrace the opportunities presented by the AfCFTA's Protocol on Digital Trade.
Advancing AfCFTA digital trade implementation in Ghana
Overseas Development Institute
The Africa-Europe adaptation partnership is facing significant challenges, with slow progress on the adaptation finance agenda at the heart of the issue. The optimistic rhetoric of “Two Unions, a Joint Vision” from the 6th European Union-African Union Summit in 2022 failed to reflect the underlying tensions. Africa’s frustration is growing due to the widening finance gap and lack of transparency, while the European Union appears increasingly fatigued by Africa’s criticism
How the EU Can Reset Its Adaptation Partnership with Africa
Instituto Affari Internazionali
A new public opinion poll finds the Iranian population in overwhelming, if contradictory, agreement: a majority say the country’s economic problems stem from the Islamic Republic’s foreign policy decisions, while citizens favor a continued Iranian military presence in the Middle East, approve of a new nuclear agreement with Western powers, and seek to normalize diplomatic relations with the US.
Key takeaways from new polling on Irans foreign policy and regional role
Middle East Institute
The long-running feud between Libya’s competing authorities over the Central Bank has flared up again, threatening an economic crisis that could lead to unrest. The parties should press ahead with UN-backed mediation to achieve a resolution.
Getting past Libyas Central Bank standoff
International Crisis Group
The bilateral relationship between Morocco and India has passed through three distinct phases, culminating in the current stage of strategic partnership. Initially marked by diplomatic formalities and limited engagement, the relationship gradually transitioned into a period of economic and cultural exchange, laying the groundwork for more substantial collaboration.
This Policy Paper analyzes the historical trajectory of Morocco-India relations, tracing the development from these early interactions to the establishment of a comprehensive strategic partnership.
Morocco-India partnership: Field of strength to be explored
Policy Center For The New South
Absent rapid reform, Tunisia’s economic policies will plunge the country into an abyss. Already, a financial crisis is brewing. This is the worrisome outcome of the path the country has followed since President Kais Saied’s power grab in July 2021. The path is underpinned by two main aspects of economic policy.
Tunisias Economy in the Eye of the Storm
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Avec une croissance de 3,4% par an au cours de la période 1980-2019, la Mauritanie a enregistré de bonnes performances économiques au cours des quatre décennies précédant la période de Covid-19, qui l’ont fait passer au rang de pays à « revenu intermédiaire de la tranche inférieure ».
Impulser la transformation de la Mauritanie par la réforme de l'architecture financière mondiale
African Development Bank Group
After winning India’s general elections in June by a slender majority, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has encountered deepening challenges in the Middle East – a region that generously credited him many foreign policy successes in the last decade. During his first two terms in office (2014-19 and 2019-24), Modi’s renewed focus and proactive approach toward the Middle East
Modi 3.0: India Confronts New Realities in a Chaotic Middle East
The Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington
In the post-Cold War era, the Middle East and Africa were defined largely by their geopolitical significance. The West, especially the United States and Europe, engaged with these regions through a lens focused on security, energy supply, and strategic alliances. However, this dynamic has shifted significantly over the last two decades.
Africa and the Middle East: The Shift from Geopolitics to Geoeconomics
Policy Center for the New South
China’s mega Belt and Road Initiative, once President Xi Jinping’s flagship project, does not lack leadership support. Yet, 11 years after its inception, the project has yet to take off as envisioned. Meanwhile, the global trade and investment strategy of the United Arab Emirates – a country of just 11 million people – is providing an alternative vision
The UAEs Network-Based Vision for Economic Integration
The Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington
The crises of the last few years have split the states of the Middle East and North Africa into winners and losers. While major energy-exporting countries flourished as hydrocarbon prices rose, others have been hit by a succession of shocks that include rising import prices, capital outflows, and falling growth. Among the region’s faltering economies, Egypt and Tunisia have attracted particular concern in Europe, because of the risk that economic distress could lead to instability and irregular migration directly affecting European countries
Value for money. Why and how Europeans should support the failing economies of Egypt and Tunisia
European Council on Foreign Relations
Yemen’s microfinance sector is undergoing a radical transformation. Despite initial success in empowering small businesses, the ongoing conflict has exposed deep vulnerabilities. Competition between the fractured central banks has driven a surge in microfinance bank (MFB) licenses. While this promises to expand financial inclusion, it raises serious concerns about long-term sustainability and financial stability.
Enhancing the Role of Microfinance Banks for Sustainable Impact in Yemen
Sana’a Center for Strategic Studies
With the U.S. presidential election heating up, jobs and taxes have become hot topics on the campaign trail. Employment initiatives and tax reform remain salient policy issues in the Gulf too, though the underlying political economy dynamics differ. In July, Oman’s government announced more than 30 new professions that non-Omanis would be prohibited from working in as of September 2. Meanwhile, a draft law on personal income tax – the first ever for a Gulf Cooperation Council country – is making its way through Oman’s Parliament
The bread-and-butter issues of jobs and taxes in the Gulf
The Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington
Relentless urbanisation often has a heavy environmental cost, arising from activities such as the consumption of fossil resources to fuel industrialisation and infrastructure development. The resulting surge in greenhouse gas emissions is one of the biggest contributors to climate change, which leads to frequent extreme weather events such as floods, droughts, and heatwaves. Such events pose an existential threat to human life, infrastructure, and economic stability.
The Promise of Bioeconomy as a Solution for Sustainability
The Observer Research Foundation
Saudi Arabia’s ‘Vision 2030’ set in motion a large-scale, mainly state-led and top-down modernization agenda to diversify the Saudi economy beyond oil, develop a new national development ethos, reshape Saudi identity and introduce greater lifestyle options while maintaining consolidated rule in the hands of the Al Saud. The envisaged transformation is fully in line with the vested interests of the Saudi monarchy and much of the business elite, as well as some of the country’s younger generations.
Drivers and strategic puzzles of Saudi modernization
Clingendael Netherlands Institute of International Relations
This report offers a contemporary analysis of the operations, the organization, the involvement in illicit economies and the financing of the Anglophone separatist armed groups in the Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon, as well as their relationships with civilian communities.
Reading of the Week: Non-State Armed Groups and Illicit Economies in West Africa: Anglophone separatists
Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project
China’s recent third plenum highlights the Communist Party’s commitment to guiding the country’s economy through ongoing global tensions and domestic challenges by focusing on sustainable, high-quality growth fueled by advanced technologies. Despite a robust economic performance and a leading role in global green energy, China’s solar industry faces significant turbulence from overexpansion, fierce competition, and external tariffs.
Chinas Expanding Solar Footprint in the Gulf
The Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington
For the Middle East, the energy-climate dilemma is causing a shift in strategy. Oil-producing countries along the Persian Gulf are at the epicenter of the energy transition, but its slow pace suggests difficult times in coming decades rather than in the next year or two. Economic risks from softening oil demand loom largest, but others — including the potential reduction in strategic importance to Washington and rebalancing of domestic social contracts — add further exposures.
Middle East Outlook: The Energy Transition Roils the Land of Oil
Baker Institute for Public Policy
Le contexte du Burkina Faso se caractérise par une crise sécuritaire depuis 2015, une crise humanitaire et alimentaire et une instabilité politique, affectant ainsi les perspectives économiques du pays. Le Burkina Faso, affecté par les changements climatiques, a une économie peu diversifiée et vulnérable aux chocs externes.
Rapport Pays 2024 - Burkina Faso - Impulser la transformation du Burkina Faso par la réforme de larchitecture financière mondiale
African Development Bank Group
Both the G20 and BRICS+ are critical global groupings for economic and geostrategic reasons. Thirty years ago, G7 countries constituted nearly 70 per cent of the global economy. In contrast, by 2024, the BRICS+ bloc accounted for approximately 35 per cent of the world’s GDP, compared to the 30 per cent held by G7 countries. Meanwhile, G20 countries represent 85 per cent of the global economy, 75 per cent of global trade, and 62 per cent of the world’s population.
South Africas G20 Presidency: Tapping into Africas Potential through Financial, Climate and Food System Reform
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Japan’s relationship with Africa is changing rapidly. While Tokyo has maintained its traditional aid-focused approach to the continent, it is also encouraging more engagement from the Japanese private sector and a stronger focus on critical minerals.These shifts come amid growing tensions between the G7 advanced economies and the People’s Republic of China.
This policy insight shows that concern about Chinese influence in critical mineral supply lines, and its wider involvement in key African sectors like green energy, industrialisation and infrastructure, is leading Japan to expand its African engagement. However, elevated risk perception among Japanese companies could prove to be a complicating factor.
Local Opportunities and Global Disputes: Tracking Japans Engagement with Africa amid Geopolitical Tensions
South African Institute of International Affairs
Small and medium-sized enterprises represent around 80-90% of private sector businesses in the MENA region, and they employ over 50% of the formal workforce in some countries. Of that, new digital startups are only a small part. Despite SMEs’ limited share in national output in MENA compared to other regions, digital transformation is a crucial opportunity for these businesses to benefit from the growing digital economy and provide a remedy to severe youth unemployment and slow economic growth.
As the source of the most employment, this sector should be targeted for greater integration of information and communication technologies (ICT), but businesses often lack the means of both financial support and know-how to increase their use of technology.
Reading of the Week: Assessing the Status of Digital Integration of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises in the Middle East and North Africa
Wilson Center
According to the US Department of Energy, there are fifty minerals that are “critical”—in that they not only serve an essential function in the technologies of the future but are also at a high risk of supply-chain disruption. That risk is due to a number of factors, but one glaring reason is the limited availability or mining of these minerals in the United States. That is increasingly problematic as demand for these minerals rises, considering the role they play in building a green economy globally.
Critical minerals investment must avoid the mistakes of the past in African mining
Atlantic Council
A country’s demographic trends are often cited among the risks or opportunities that it faces. Youth bulges could bring political instability; a robust working age population promises a “demographic dividend” of economic prosperity and strengthened democracy. As one generation ages out of the labor force, another slips into place, taking on the responsibility for economic growth (while paying into social security, caring for parents, and often raising a family).
Reading of the Week: Introduction - The Grest Population Shakeup
The Wilson Center
The African Union (AU) will attend the next G20 Summit as a full member under Brazil’s presidency in November 2024 in Rio de Janeiro, having been admitted to the group last year. This marks a significant step forward in amplifying Africa’s voice in global forums. Established in 2002 as the successor to the Organization of African Unity (founded in 1963), the AU aims to promote political and economic integration across the continent.
How the African Union Can Amplify Its Influence in the G20
Policy Center for the New South
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is emerging as a promising solution to the challenges of inefficiency and high compliance costs in the fight against money laundering. This brief examines the capabilities, benefits, and challenges of AI in the context of detecting and preventing financial crime. The brief explores the ways in which AI can aid anti-money laundering efforts, particularly by reducing compliance costs and enhancing efficiency. The findings offer insights for policymakers, regulators, and financial institutions seeking to leverage AI to combat money laundering more effectively and efficiently.
Reading of the Week: The Use of AI in Arresting Financial Crime
Observer Research Foundation
There have been many calls-not least from developing countries-to reform major economic institutions such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the World Trade Organization (WTO). But before entertaining reform ideas, we must grapple with a pair of uncomfortable questions. Are these three organizations fully devoted to poorer countries’ economic and social development? And, are they uniquely equipped to deal with development? These questions are especially pertinent today, as the organizations wrestle with making economic growth “environmentally sustainable,” promoting climate-oriented development, and adding climate action to their already-complex portfolios.
The World Bank , the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organization: Reform Challenges
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Demand for critical minerals is expected to skyrocket in the decades ahead. These minerals — such as copper, cobalt and lithium, among others — power the electronics we use every day and are essential for transitioning to greener energy technologies. The U.S. is increasingly working with African partners to develop the continent’s abundant critical minerals, an effort that is vital to advancing U.S. economic and national security interests
The Lobito Corridor: A U.S. Bet on Africas Critical Mineral Development
United States Institute of Peace
Public procurement in Arab countries is governed by laws on tendering and related regulations and decrees, which are typically complicated. The central problem is the widening gap between what is stated in the laws and what happens in reality.
Should Arab countries join the WTOs agreement on government procurement?
Economic Research Forum
Saudi Arabia has historically played a significant role in the global oil market as a swing producer—a country or company with the ability to significantly influence global oil prices by adjusting its production levels—within the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). This stance has given Riyadh enormous influence over oil prices due to its ability to change oil output levels as the world’s second-largest producer
Saudi Arabias strategy with the OPEC
Observer Research Foundation
Central Africa is at a critical juncture in its energy governance, which could shape its energy future. The region is navigating between traditional fossil fuel projects like the encouraged Central African Pipeline System (CAPS) by the Central Africa Business Energy Forum (CABEF) and increasing momentum towards renewable energy solutions advocated by initiatives like the establishment of the Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency for Central Africa (CEREEAC)
Harnessing Regional Energy Governance for Central Africas Energy Security
African Development Bank Group
Last week, government officials from sub-Saharan Africa were in Washington, DC to discuss the future of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a trade program that gives 32 countries tariff-free market access to the US on some 1,800 products. AGOA expires in September 2025, but with the clock ticking, proponents in Congress want to modernize the program, not just renew it
Shifting Focus on Labor and Environmental Standards to Companies Instead of Countries Would Supercharge AGOA
Wilson Center
Lebanon’s central bank Banque du Liban has achieved 12 months of exchange rate stability. Foreign currency reserves have recently clawed back above $10 billion. At the one-year mark of Wassim Mansouri’s reign as acting governor, economist Layal Mansour lauds his disciplined implementation of a quasi-currency board solution but urges this solution’s full and formal adoption.
The paradox of the Lebanese pounds recent stability
Executive
Unlike its prolific onshore, Kuwait’s offshore had long been a desert for oil and gas. Now the country has changed that, reporting a large discovery at the Al-Nokhatha field, named for the captain of a dhow, the traditional Gulf ship. How useful is this for the country, and does it herald a turnaround in Kuwaiti petroleum?
Kuwaits Big New Offshore Oil Find
Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington
Based on a comprehensive analysis drawing from extensive research, web scraping, data mining and interviews with stakeholders, this regional report focuses on the evolving trends, opportunities, and challenges shaping the digital economy, the future of work and the related skills requirements in Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine and Tunisia.
New forms of work and platform work in the southern and eastern Mediterranean
European Training Foundation
Le rôle du secteur halieutique dans l’alimentation du continent africain est considérable : 22 % des protéines animales disponibles viennent des produits de la mer et des eaux douces et plus de 50 % dans certains pays africains, en particulier en Afrique du Nord et de l’Ouest. Les pêches et leurs activités connexes fournissent non seulement de la nourriture, mais aussi des emplois à 12 millions de personnes, et génèrent des revenus pour les États comme pour les communautés
LAfrique face à lépuisement de ses ressources de la pêche maritime
Policy Center For The New South
The Multi-Partner Somalia Infrastructure Fund (SIF) was established in October 2016 with the key objective of supporting Somalia to develop and rehabilitate key infrastructure, rebuild institutions, and reinforce economic governance. This report provides an update on the Fund’s activities covering the period January to December 2023.
Somalia infrastructure fund 2023 annual progress report
African Development Bank Group
With trade in goods among Arab countries remaining modest, trade in services could play the pivotal role of an engine of growth in economic integration within the region, as well greater participation in global value chains. This column outlines progress to date and what needs to be done to make a success of AFTAS, the Arab free trade area in services.
Can a free trade area in services boost trade within the Arab region?
Economic Research Forum (ERF)
The Guided Trade Initiative (GTI) of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) was launched on 7 October 2022 in response to the growing demand for trading under the AfCFTA to start. It was designed as an interim trading arrangement to test the provisions of the AfCFTA, to identify challenges and bottlenecks and to help maintain the political momentum behind as well as public support for the Agreement.
Nigerias participation in the Guided Trade Initiative
Supporting Investment & Trade in Africa (SITA)
Since February 2024, the United States has imposed a series of unprecedented sanctions linked to Israeli settlers in the West Bank for human rights violations. This includes two rounds of sanctions targeting a close associate of Israel’s far-right national security minister, two entities that raised money for violent settlers, five settlers, and two illegal outposts.
Civilians or Soldiers? Settler violence in the West Bank
Armed Conflict Location and Event Data
This report explores trends in renewable energy investment, finance and policy in Sub-Saharan Africa, with a view to unlocking the potential of renewable energy as an important lever of socio-economic development in the region.
Sub-Saharan Africa: Policies and finance for renewable energy deployment
International Renewable Energy Agency
Nigeria’s cultural and creative industries (CCIs) illustrate the dynamic interplay between cultural production and economic growth. Through Nollywood and Afrobeat, Nigeria has effectively leveraged its creative capital to strengthen its economy and broaden its global cultural influence.
Cultural Flows: The Development and Global Influence of Nigerias Creative Industries
Policy Center for the New South
This book provides an overview of the technical capabilities of 5G, discusses how they may impact the information and communication technology (ICT) industry, and explores how 5G can support the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0) and help countries make progress toward the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The Path to 5G in the Developing World: Planning Ahead for a Smooth Transition
International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
The Global South features prominently in the context of geopolitical rivalry and efforts by developing countries to change the current international economic and financial architecture. While there are questions about whether some countries—such as China or Russia—should be considered parts of the Global South (GS), it is obvious that Africa is at the center of the group.
Africa: The Center Of The Global South
Policy Center for the New South
The country has the second-largest proven oil reserves in Africa, after Libya. It sits on the 10th-largest proven oil reserves in the world, with roughly 2 percent of global reserves behind Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait, Russia, the United States and Libya
Unlocking Nigerias economic potential with natural gas
Geopolitical Intelligence Services
The May 2024 Chief Economists Outlook launches amid a mood of cautious optimism about the global economy. Uncertainty persists, but signs of brightening are reflected in the latest survey, with a sharp fall in the share of chief economists expecting global conditions to weaken this year, from 56% in January to 17%.
Chief Economists Outlook
World Economic Forum
The passing of Pension Law 319 by Lebanon’s Parliament in December 2023 was a milestone. For decades, the vast majority of the Lebanese people have lived with little or no income security in their old age, a situation that has worsened since the economic-financial crisis that began in 2019. Approximately 80 percent of the Lebanese population has no formal pension coverage.
Pension Reform in Lebanon: Good Intentions, Uncertain Outcomes
Carnegie Middle East Center
With the global economy is in its third year of deceleration amid declining inflation and oil prices, the Middle East and North Africa grew by just 1.9% in 2023, with a forecast for growth in 2024 at 2.7%. In addition to heightened uncertainty brought on by the conflict centered in Gaza, many countries in the region are also grappling with pre-existing vulnerabilities, including rising debt levels.
Conflict and debt in the Middle East and North Africa
Economic Research Forum
In Africa, agriculture contributes about 15% of total GDP on average, employs more than half of the total labor force, and within the rural population, provides livelihoods for multitudes of smalls-scale producers whose farms constitute approximately 80% of all farms in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) (OECD-FAO, 2016).
READING OF THE WEEK: Feed Africa Strategy 2016 - 2025
African Development Bank Group
The year 2023 was a crucial year for the Sahel Women’s Empowerment and Demographic Dividend (SWEDD) project. It marked the transition to the SWEDD+ expansion phase, which included the integration of three new countries and the strengthening of funding in two countries.
SWEDD Annual Report
UNFPA
This paper examines the existing literature to clarify the positive and negative aspects of commodity financialization, drawing on global examples and specific cases within Africa. By examining best practices and lessons learned, this paper offers guidance on how African countries can navigate the complexities of preparing for and embracing commodity financialization in order to unlock its potential benefits while mitigating the associated risks.
Financializing Commodity Markets: Consequences, Advantages and African Case Study
Policy Center For The South
The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) is up for renewal this year. AGOA is a cornerstone of US-Africa economic relations, and has enjoyed bipartisan support for nearly a quarter century. But it's showing its age. A lot has changed since Bill Clinton signed the bill back in 2000—not least, the rise of China as a global manufacturing powerhouse.
Nine Ideas to Improve AGOA
Center For Global Development
The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) is up for renewal this year. AGOA is a cornerstone of US-Africa economic relations, and has enjoyed bipartisan support for nearly a quarter century. But it's showing its age. A lot has changed since Bill Clinton signed the bill back in 2000—not least, the rise of China as a global manufacturing powerhouse.
Nine Ideas to Improve AGOA
Center for Global Development
In an effort to stimulate economic growth and diversify the economy, the government of the United Arab Emirates has recently implemented regulatory reform that allows 100% foreign ownership of companies operating in the country. This column examines the implications of the reform for entry of new firms in Dubai.
Reformed foreign ownership rules in UAE: the impact on business entry
Economic Research Forum
This research note examines the implementation of property tax in Liberia. Based on original fieldwork data, the note analyses taxpayers' perceptions of the new tax system in the light of their experiences with public services, development projects and the political system.
Grand Bassa and the 50/50 tax pilot: A brilliant idea, but...
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
There are ongoing debates in Western capitals and global media on whether China is experiencing a serious economic slowdown, whether the economy is on the verge of collapse, and how a collapse may impact the rest of the world.
How Is Chinas Economic Transition Affecting Its Relations With Africa?
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
As fossil fuel reserves run low and populations continue to grow, resource-wealthy countries face fiscal constraints that push them to shift away from the traditional no-taxation model. As one of the world’s largest oil exporters, Saudi Arabia is a case in point
Tax reform in Saudi Arabia: Assessing the economic and societal impacts
Middle East Council on Global Affairs
African economies remain resilient amid multiple shocks, with their average growth projected to stabilize at 4.0 percent in 2024–25, nearly a one percentage point higher than the 3.1 percent estimated in 2023.
Reading of the Week: African Economic Outlook 2024
African Development Bank Group
A universally acknowledged truth is that there must be something inexplicably wrong with Africa. How can a continent endowed with so much natural wealth be so poor? How can a green desert be possible? Whatever bad leadership, colonial vestiges, social fractures or other negative forces are at work in Africa must be worse than everywhere else to make this paradox make sense.
The strategic mirage of Africas green minerals wealth
Overseas Development Institute
This note presents two scenarios for the world economy and development prospects to 2050 based on the forecasting exercises and analysis presented in a series of papers. "A World Off Course" outlines the downside scenario while "Momentum Regained" suggests the upside potential.
Two Futures for Global Development
Center for Global Development
This article is part of: Special Meeting on Global Collaboration, Growth and Energy for Development: The Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) faces multiple challenges, from conflict to economic woes, humanitarian problems, and mounting climate-related issues, all of which are exacerbated by a lack of cohesiveness.
4 steps for the Middle East and North Africa to develop intelligent economies
World Economic Forum
The European Union’s relationship with Africa is one based on “common values and interests”, according to the bloc’s own official declarations. Yet a key test of these shared values and interests can be found in how Europeans engage their African counterparts in diplomacy around critical raw materials (CRMs) and the energy transition to which CRMs are so important.
From mines to markets: How Africa and Europe can become green industry partners of choice
European Council on Foreign Relations
Food security is a prerequisite for any people’s sovereignty. The need for food’s physical and mental sustenance affects every human being with an existential might. It consequently ranks in import perhaps second only after the need for a planetary home with breathable air and stable gravity.
Harvesting Reforms: Lebanons Food Security and Sovereignty
Executive magazine
Diversifying the economy away from oil is one of the key goals of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 program. Data from 2022 indicated that progress was being made toward a more diversified economy. Similarly, developments in exports, output, government revenue, and employment show that, across most metrics, further progress was made during 2023, although oil is still the dominant force in the Saudi economy
Continued Progress in Saudi Economic Diversification
The Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington
In February 2024, American oil giant ExxonMobil announced it was exiting the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, effectively severing a nearly three-decade-long relationship. The company played a leading role in the development of the oil sector in the African nation. In 1995, Mobil Corporation discovered the Zafiro oil field, and Exxon entered the scene after its takeover of Mobil in 1999.
Equatorial Guineas oil and gas industry continues to shrink
GIS
Following an intensification of normative contestation in the region, together with shifts in global politics and order, West Africa and the Sahel seem to be currently experiencing a redrawing and redefinition of regional spaces. On 28 January 2024, the military leaders of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger – who had recently formed the Alliance des Ètats du Sahel (AES) – declared their withdrawal from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS): A Region and an Organisation at a Crossroads
Italian Institute for International Political Studies
This paper outlines the key challenges facing policymakers ahead of this year's “Spring Meetings” of the IMF and World Bank, particularly in the context of food security challenges, global instability, and gaps in climate finance. The gap in climate finance has implications beyond sustainable development and humanitarian need.
The Elephant in the Climate Room: Financing Sustainable Security and Supporting Future-Fit Systems
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Gulf central banks can increase transparency by adopting credible reform agendas focused on the publication of accurate statistics, disclosure of analysis and forecasting methodology, and forward-looking explanations of policy decisions.
The Urgent Need for Transparency Reform in Gulf Central Banks
The Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington
In December 2023, Angola made the surprise announcement that it was leaving the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) effective January 1, 2024, severing a 16-year-long relationship. When the African oil exporter joined the producers’ group in 2007, it was the first country to do so since 1975. The relationship between Angola and OPEC changed drastically over that period.
Why Angola left OPEC?
GIS
The importance of African cities as economic, political and social actors is increasing. While Africa used to be perceived as a predominantly rural continent, it is estimated that by 2050, the urban population of the continent will increase by around 900 million people, nearly tripling
Decentralization and Its Effects on Urban Governance in Africa
French Institute of International Relations
Economic growth is expected to rebound in Sub-Saharan Africa, supported by increased private consumption and declining inflation in 2024. However, this positive outlook remains fragile due to uncertain global economic conditions, low fiscal buffers, growing debt service obligation, costly external borrowing, and escalating conflict and violence, which continue to weigh on economic activity in the region.
Tackling Inequality to Revitalize Growth and Reduce Poverty in Africa
World Bank
World military expenditure increased for the ninth consecutive year in 2023, reaching a total of $2443 billion. The 6.8 per cent increase in 2023 was the steepest year-on-year rise since 2009 and pushed global spending to the highest level SIPRI has ever recorded.
Trends in world military expenditure, 2023
SIPRI
We examine the resilience of the Senegalese and Malian economies in the face of the main shocks they faced between 2000 and 2022 and the policy responses adopted to counter their impact. The study shows that Mali has experienced more internal shocks than Senegal, mainly due to its vulnerability to climatic, political, health and security problems
Macroeconomic Resilience: The Cases of Senegal and Mali
South African Institute of International Affairs
Only Nigeria has an active digital currency in Africa, but other African countries are exploring the option. Understanding the form and implications of China’s digital currency agenda, and how it may directly and indirectly shape China’s economic relations with Africa, is important in informing Africa’s own digital currency debate.
Reading of the Week: Chinas Central Bank Digital Currency: A New Force in African Finance?
South African Institute of International Affairs
The global economy is in its third year of deceleration amidst declining inflation and oil prices. The MENA region grew at 1.9 percent in 2023 and is forecasted to grow at 2.7 percent in 2024. And for the first time since the pandemic, MENA oil exporters and importers will grow at similar rates. The tragedy of the conflict in the Middle East has increased uncertainty.
Conflict And Debt In The Middle East And North Africa
World Bank Group
The importance of African cities as economic, political and social actors is increasing. While Africa used to be perceived as a predominantly rural continent, it is estimated that by 2050, the urban population of the continent will increase by around 900 million people, nearly tripling.
Decentralization and Its Effects on Urban Governance in Africa
French Institute of International Relations
At the end of 2023 Egyptian people, called to the polls, reconfirmed Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as President of Egypt, resulting in the beginning of his third, six-year term. People’s Republican Party’s candidate, Hazem Omar, only achieved 4.06% of the vote and other candidates haven’t strayed far from the same result.
Facing the Future: Navigating Egypts Deepening Socio-Economic Challenges
Beyond the Horizon
The Middle East and North Africa region is one of the lowest recipients of climate finance compared to other areas of the globe, such as East Asia and the Pacific Islands, despite MENA’s exposure to extreme climate risks. The MENA region’s share of climate financing from the big three global climate funds — the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the Climate Investment Funds (CIF), and the Global Environment Facility (GEF).
The great financing gap: The state of climate funding in MENA
Middle East Institute
In the 10 years leading up to 2021, the share of women in sub-Saharan Africa who owned a financial account more than doubled to reach 49%, according to data from the Global Findex. Since 2017 alone, account ownership rates for women in the region increased 12 percentage points, driven entirely by increased adoption of mobile money accounts.
Digital finance boosting womens financial inclusion in sub-Saharan Africa: Emerging evidence
Brookings Institution
Just as important as a technology’s impact is the technology’s origin—or origins. Any given technology can be traced back, through its individual components and materials, to a number of sources. And the question about where those components and materials come from matters. Modern technology, economies, livelihoods, and weapons depend on critical. Where countries source these minerals makes a difference for national and strategic security.
The critical-minerals boom is here. Can Africa take advantage?
Atlantic Council
In this paper we explore policy actions that the United States could take to give African economies a “final” and plausible shot at export-led industrialization. Specifically, we examine opportunities to expand the U.S. African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which is due for renewal by 2025.
Long-Distance Industrial Policy for Africa
Center for Global Development
The influx of refugees and returnees continues to put pressure on sources of food and income. There is strong competition for the few existing opportunities. As a result, incomes have decreased, restricting households’ ability to afford essential food items given atypically high prices.
Chad Food Security Outlook, February - September 2024
Famine Early Warning System Network
Women are a powerful engine for international trade and economic growth. As workers, small-scale traders, entrepreneurs, and producers, their engagement in export activities has the potential not only to elevate overall productivity and competitiveness in the international market but also to reduce poverty.
Women, International Trade, and the Law: Breaking Barriers for Gender Equality in Export-Related Activities
World Bank Group
After an almost two-year lull, sub-Saharan African issuers are clawing their way back into international markets. In close succession, Côte d’Ivoire, Benin, and Kenya issued $4.85 billion worth of Eurobonds in the first quarter of 2024. The bond offerings were as much as six times oversubscribed, in a sign that investor demand for riskier frontier market debt is back.
Is Sub-Saharan Africas Credit Crunch Really Over?
Center for Global Development
In 2021-22, the Reform Initiative for Transparent Economies (RITE), a non-governmental organization (NGO) based in the United Kingdom that is headed by this author, conducted an independent case study to demonstrate the challenges facing donors in Lebanon. It published its heavily referenced findings along with evidence-based recommendations
A better development funding model for Lebanon: Prospects, challenges, and applicable lessons
Middle East Institute
While farmers across Europe are staging dramatic protests over the negative impacts green energy policies are having on their business, China is ramping up measures to support the modernization of agriculture in Africa. Already the second-largest market for agricultural exports from the continent, behind the European Union, China hopes to increase imports from Africa to $300 billion by 2025
The opportunities and challenges of mega-farming in Africa
GIS
A Review provides a discussion of future trends as established in the literature on the interaction between socioeconomic indicators and projected future climate change scenarios. It enhances our understanding of future predicted patterns of climate change effects in the coming decades and the need for climate-resilient interventions.
The socioeconomic impact of climate change in developing countries in the next decades
Center For Global Development
Since the beginning of 2024, Omani authorities have announced a quick succession of economic initiatives: a new sovereign fund entity, the country’s first government-owned investment bank, a major mixed-use development project in the Jabal Akhdar mountain range, and a new waterfront development project for the capital, Muscat.
Oman Capitalizes on Domestic, Regional Economic Momentum
The Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington
This policy-synthesis report is a comparative summary of (a) six sub-Saharan country-partner policy insights into macroeconomic crises and their management; (b) statistical analysis of the utilization of monetary and fiscal policy instruments; and (c) the relationship between (components of) macroeconomic resilience and GDP growth
Building Macroeconomic Resilience Through Counter-Cyclical Policy in Sub-Saharan Africa
South African Institute of International Affairs
Internet connectivity between parts of Asia, Africa, and Europe suddenly slowed on February 24 when three undersea cables were damaged in the Red Sea. This caused “a significant impact on communication networks in the Middle East,” according to Hong Kong telecoms company HGC Global Communications. The Red Sea is a choke point for global maritime trade—a fact Yemen’s Houthi rebels have taken advantage of by targeting global shipping with missile attacks in recent months. But the sea is also an internet and telecommunications bottleneck. An estimated 90 percent of communications between Europe and Asia and 17 percent of global internet traffic traverse cables under the 14-mile-wide Bab al Mandab Strait.
Reading of the Week: Red Sea Cable Damage Reveals Soft Underbelly of Global Economy
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Although international negotiators are racing to secure a new temporary cease-fire, the war in the Gaza Strip shows no sign of concluding, with the conflict at risk of becoming more regionalized and the severe loss of life mounting. In the meantime, policymakers around the world struggle with the impending equation of the “day after.
Rebuilding Gaza: Navigating the politics of infrastructure
Middle East Institute
The conflict in Gaza and Israel is yet another shock to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. It is causing immense human suffering and exacerbating an already challenging environment for neighboring economies and beyond. This Update covers economies in the MENA region and does not discuss developments in Israel.
Regional Economic Outlook Middle East and North Africa
International Monetary Fund
Improving the processing and trade of African wood and wood products (WWPs) has long been a focus for African policymakers because it stimulates multiple benefits for the African continent, including the creation of jobs, investment, and revenues.
Regional timber trade flows and trends in Africa
African Development Bank Group
In September 2024, the UN will hold the Summit of the Future in New York, bringing together world leaders to “forge a new international consensus” on how to “deliver a better present and safeguard the future.” One of the outcomes of the summit will be a Pact for the Future covering five key areas: sustainable development and financing for development; international peace and security; science, technology and innovation, and digital cooperation; youth and future generations; and transforming global governance.
Summit of the Future: Advancing African Perspectives for a Networked and Inclusive Multilateralism
International Peace Institute
African countries’ progress under the G20 Common Framework for Debt Treatment beyond the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) that was launched in 2020 has been slow. Ghana, Chad, Ethiopia and Zambia have applied for external debt restructuring under the Common Framework.
Reading of the Week: African Debt Restructurings Need to Gather Pace
Italian Institute for International Political Studies
The global economy’s recovery is faltering, and Africa is not immune. Multiple crises— including rising living costs, weakening economic growth, increasing effects of climate change, health pandemics, and geopolitical tensions— are hindering Africa’s socioeconomic development. The momentum of Africa’s economic recovery has slowed, with average real GDP growth declining to an estimated 3.2 percent in 2023, from 4.1 percent in 2022.
Africas Macroeconomic Performance and Outlook
African Development Bank Group
Governments around the world are increasingly aware of the importance of diaspora networks to foster sustainable development, primarily in countries of origin. In 2018, the Global Compact on Migration established the creation of conditions that allow diaspora networks to contribute to sustainable development through the transfer of skills, social capital and financial resources as a key objective. And diaspora engagement is increasingly prioritized in national development strategies, with many impressive initiatives under way.
How can governments better support diaspora contributions to social, cultural and economic development?
The Overseas Development Institute
This policy briefing presents the findings and recommendations of the ‘Youth and Social Justice Futures: Identifying Future Skills and Training in Africa’ project, a participatory action research project that engaged Ugandan youth and other stakeholders in exploring alternative futures and addressing the challenge of unemployment. The project used two innovative frameworks: Youth Futures Literacy Labs and the Three Horizons Framework.
Uganda: The Future of Work for Youth
The South African Institute of International Affairs
As the world bumps toward energy transitions that vary widely in approach, cost, and political commitment certain realities are becoming manifest. One is the sheer level of effort entailed in building materials supply chains that can support displacement of legacy fuels and systems to the extent, and within the time frames, imagined. Replacing legacy fuels and systems that have been the backbone of global prosperity is a complex endeavor of historic proportions
Mining, Minerals, and Materials in the Age of Sustainability and Alliances
Baker Institute for Public Policy
This report synthesizes the evidence on the impact of the war and its implications on food security in Africa based on country case studies covering Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Morocco, Mozambique, Senegal, South Africa and Sudan, as well as Africa-wide studies utilizing econometric modelling techniques. The studies examine the transmission channels of the impact of the Russia–Ukraine war on African economies and their resilience
Impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on Africa: Policy implications for navigating shocks and building resilience
ODI Policy brief
Socioeconomic discontent has been rising in several countries of the Middle East and North Africa. In 2019, there was a surge of protests in these countries, including Sudan, Iraq, Lebanon, Morocco, Jordan, and Algeria, which did not experience the Arab uprisings of 2010–2011. Beyond calling for changes in their political systems, protesters demanded a comprehensive overhaul of their economic systems as well, denouncing soaring prices, wealth disparities, elite capture of resources and rent streams, and the absence of economic justice.
Economic Injustice is Anchoring Itself in the Arab World
Carnegie Middle East Center
Macroeconomic resilience is crucial for sustainable development. Nigeria and Ghana, two prominent West African countries, have faced unique challenges and opportunities in building such resilience. These two countries have experienced a range of economic shocks over the past two decades, including natural disasters, commodity price fluctuations, financial crises and global economic downturns.
Enhancing Macroeconomic Resilience: A Comparative Analysis of Nigeria and Ghana
South African Institute of International Affairs
The Africa Economic Symposium (AES) is the Policy Center for the New South’s new major conference, alongside the renowned Atlantic Dialogues and the African Peace and Security Annual Conference (APSACO). AES aspires to be a continent-wide annual gathering of prominent economists, policymakers, and academics.
Africa Economic Symposium
Policy Center For the New South
Is it possible for Nigeria to successfully implement a redesign policy for its currency, the naira, when the informal sector accounts for 65 percent of the country’s GDP and 93 percent of employment, and when 90 percent of transactions in the informal economy are in cash?
Why Nigerias Controversial Naira Redesign Policy Hasnt Met Its Objectives
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
In addition to investing billions in the domestic economy, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has also made smaller and less eye-catching investments in other countries in its neighborhood. These investments can not only foster knowledge exchanges to help diversify the Saudi economy, but they’re also important tools of economic statecraft as Riyadh strengthens its position around the Red Sea and in the Levant.
Jordanian ambitions, Saudi funds: A look at Saudi investments in Jordan
Middle East Institute
The food, energy, and debt crises in the Middle East and North Africa have exacerbated structural economic weaknesses of low- and middle-income countries, particularly Egypt, Tunisia, and Lebanon, creating mounting pressure on domestic political orders and worsening these countries’ geopolitical marginalization.
Misfortune to Marginalization: The Geopolitical Impact of Structural Economic Failings in Egypt, Tunisia, and Lebanon
Carnegie Middle East Center
The 7th edition of the UfM Women Business Forum offered female entrepreneurs and women-led businesses a unique opportunity to take their businesses to the next level and was co-organised together with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) for the third time in a row. It gathered over 150 high-level attendees, regional and national stakeholders, as well as female entrepreneurs from across the MENA region.
2023 UfM-UNIDO Women Business Forum
Union for the Mediterranean 2023
While recent news from Africa has been dominated by political upheaval and coups, this coverage often overshadows significant strides in innovation and science across the continent. Chief among these is the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) radio telescope, designed to capture unprecedentedly detailed images of deep space from southern skies.
The Economic Potential Of African Radio Astronomy
Geopolitical Intelligence Services (GIS)
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is likely to become the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund by the end of the decade, but raising the resources to fund its ambitious domestic investment program may increase economic and financial risks.
Going Big: Assessing the Growth Ambitions of the Saudi Public Investment Fund
The Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington (AGSIW)
In the emerging landscape of global geopolitics, economic partnerships and competition for critical minerals for the green energy transition and digital transformation, Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has become a focal point for major actors. These partners are drawn by its abundant natural resources, growing markets and collective voting power in international fora like the United Nations.
Reading Of The Week: Beyond Natural Resources: The Growing Centrality of African Markets
Istituto per gli Studi di Politica Internazionale (ISPI)
Over the past decade, Kenya’s government has made notable progress toward achieving economic development as set out in its Vision 2030 and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Statistics from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (2022) indicate that the national economy grew at an average rate of 4.3% between 2017 and 2021.
For the first time in a decade, Kenyans see management of the economy as their most important problem
Afro Barometer
Urbanisation is the mega trend reshaping Africa. The continent’s population is rising at a stunning rate and is expected to reach 4 billion people by the end of this century. This is coupled with unprecedented rural to-urban migration, driven largely by young people.
Reading of the Week: From Millions to Billions. Financing the Development of African Cities
African Development Bank Group
On November 16, the World Economic Forum’s AI Governance Summit convened over 200 global leaders, tech experts, academics, innovators, and policymakers to address the evolving landscape of artificial intelligence (AI) governance and shape its responsible future
Reading of the Week: The future of the world is intelligent. Insights from the World Economic Forums AI Governance Summit
Brookings
What has been the human toll of the dizzying sequence of global macroeconomic shocks since 2020 for the Middle East and North Africa in terms of lost jobs and deteriorating livelihoods? A recent World Bank report highlights the additional 5.1 million people who have become unemployed, and explores the potential for them to be permanently scarred by the experience.
Balancing act: jobs and wages in MENA when crises hit
Economic Research Forum
Sitting on troves of unexplored critical mineral resources such as cobalt, copper, and lithium, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Tanzania, and Zambia are emerging as theatres of great power competition in Africa. A new infrastructure undertaking which was conceived under the United States’ (US) Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII) initiative—the Lobito Corridor
The Lobito Corridor: The Wests bid against Chinese domination in Central Africa
Observer Research Foundation
Public and private energy finance to Africa from countries in the Group of Twenty (G20) and multilateral development banks (MDBs) from 2012 to 2021 totaled $345.76 billion, according to this paper’s findings. Amounting to an average of about $35 billion per year, this finance was within the estimated $31.5-$45 billion range necessary to address Africa’s annual energy finance gap.
Who Finances Energy Projects in Africa?
Carnegie Endowment For international Peace
The annual multilateral Conference of the Parties (COP) has become one of the most important meetings on the global agenda. So, the fact that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will host COP28 starting this week in Dubai - on the coattails of another Arab country, Egypt, hosting COP27 in 2022-is a big deal. Bringing such important international meetings to the Global South is a step forward in decentering and reorienting global climate action.
Reading of the Week: Gaza, Yemen, Syria, Human Rights, and Oil - The Elephants in the COP28 Room
Wilson Center
The conflict in Gaza and Israel is causing immense human suffering. In addition to the direct impact, the conflict will also have consequences for the broader Middle East and North Africa region, with impacts on both people and economies. This comes at a time when economic activity in the region was already expected to slow, falling from 5.6 percent in 2022 to 2 percent in 2023.
Middle East Conflict Risks Reshaping The Regions Economies
International Monetary Fund
As Africa looks to close the development gap, it has turned to space as a catalyst for economic growth and social change. The creation of the African Space Agency (AfSA) in 2017 and its formal inauguration in January of this year demonstrate that African leaders want to develop comprehensive, home-grown solutions to promote solidarity and a new way of thinking about the continent’s role in the future space economy.
Who Woke the Sleeping Giant? Africas Emerging Space Programs Take Off
Stimson
The India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor represents an important shift in US and EU efforts to promote trade in the Middle East. Unlike past trade initiatives, the IMEC encompasses a broader coalition of regional and non-regional participants.
The India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor: an early assessment
The Economic Research Forum (ERF)
Over nine years of violence and conflict have profoundly altered the Republic of Yemen’s economy. The war has shattered the country’s already fragile socioeconomic equilibria, affecting nearly every facet of life. Since the onset of the conflict, economic diagnostics have focused on descriptions of the deteriorating macro-fiscal and poverty conditions, lack of food security, and loss of capital accumulation.
Alternative Paths for Yemen up to 2030 A CGE-Based Simulation Analysis
World Bank Group
The financing resources that are needed to face adaptation and mitigation to climate change in Tunisia are enormous. Tunisia’s climate finance gap is estimated at US$ 1.72 billion annually, which represents 3.5 percent of the countrys GDP. Under current trends, public and multilateral sources alone will not be sufficient to close this gap.
Country Focus Report 2023 - Tunisia - Mobilizing Private Sector Financing for Climate and Green Growth
African Development Bank Group
The paid care economy plays a crucial role in employing women. This sector also acts as a mechanism to reduce care work within households, which disproportionately affects women. This paper examines the evolution of the paid care economy in Egypt, over the period 2009-2021, drawing on three different data sources to assess trends in employment and working conditions.
Working Conditions in the Paid Care Economy in Egypt. Improvement or Deterioration?
Economic Research Forum
Africa’s mounting debt crisis could undermine the continent’s economic progress and stability. The problem has worsened with the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Europe, and the impacts of climate change. The current debt situation in Africa has reached alarming proportions and could have severe consequences for human security.
Reading of the Week: Navigating the complex terrain of China-Africa debt relations
Institute for Security Studies
The Gulf states are key lenders of last resort, playing a significant role in rescuing distressed states in the Middle East, North Africa and beyond since the 1960s. This new report examines in depth how the Gulf states have pursued bailout diplomacy to cultivate influence and shape their wider region.
Gulf Bailout Diplomacy: Aid as Economic Statecraft in a Turbulent Region
International Institute for Strategic Studies
Africa has shown resilience in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, reduced fiscal space, debt burdens, climate change, and economic headwinds. Over the past decade, we as a continent have continued to reduce poverty and grow the middle class. We are poised to embark on a transformation journey to help us reach our fullest economic potential. Now is the time for Africa to accelerate its evolution as a single market, a valuable player in value chains, and a destination for investment, particularly in the green economy.
Marrakech Framework: An African Agenda for Global Financial Architecture
African Center for Economic Transformation
Together, the Arab Gulf states - Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) - have become a global power. Led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and to some extent Qatar, they have a major influence on the world’s energy, financial, political, and, consequently, environmental affairs. This gives rise to the question: How big a role do the Arab Gulf states play in steering the global climate change agenda?
The Arab Gulf Helps Fuel the Global Economy. What It Means for the Energy Transition
Baker Institute for Public Policy
Covid-19. The Russian invasion of Ukraine. Commodity price volatility. The rise of global inflation and interest rates. Currency depreciations among indebted middle-income economies. And now, natural disasters. As a sequence of events, the consequences can be both tragic and long-lasting. After analyzing the macroeconomic prospects of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region, this edition of the regional Economic Update assesses the human toll of macroeconomic shocks in terms of lost jobs and deteriorating livelihoods of the people of MENA.
Balancing Act: Jobs and Wages in the Middle East and North Africa When Crises Hit
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
Africa faces a serious challenge of youth unemployment, which affects millions of young people and hampers the continent’s economic transformation potential. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), about 13 million young people in Africa are unemployed, and around 60 million young African people are not engaged in employment, education, or training as of 2022. By 2050, Sub-Saharan Africa will have twice as many people as it has today, and more than half will be under 25 years old.
Guinée-Bissau - Mobiliser les financements du secteur privé en faveur du climat et de la croissance verte
African Center for Economic Transformation
The increasing frequency and magnitude of climate-exacerbated hazards, coupled with the growing vulnerability of societies worldwide, are raising the financial costs of disasters. Governments finance a larger share of these costs through post-disaster measures. However, reducing risk and optimizing the allocation of pre-disaster resources can reduce the negative financial impact on governments.
Managing Disaster Costs
ETH Zurich
In recent months Iran has been engaged in a campaign to improve its standing in Asia, Africa, and Latin America in various countries that are not aligned with the West. Will this help Iran mitigate its international isolation and alleviate the sanctions regime?
Irans Global Diplomatic-Economic Campaign
The Institute for National Security Studies
This report reviews and examines the use of risk mitigation and transfer (RMT) instruments in private utility-scale renewable energy investment. The trillions of dollars needed to achieve global climate goals are more than an abstract number. They need to be channeled through viable projects that result in desirable outcomes, such as renewable energy infrastructure in developing countries.
Risk mitigation and transfer for renewable energy investments: a conceptual review
Stockholm Environment Institute
A number of MENA countries face high debt levels. Egypt, Jordan, and Tunisia are in a precarious situation. Lebanon is already in default. These debt difficulties are rooted in persistent structural issues related to governance and regulatory frameworks and bloated public sectors. The situation has been exacerbated by global economic fluctuations, the pandemic, and Russias invasion of Ukraine. Unless reforms are made quickly, debt restructurings may become inevitable. If inevitable, it is preferable to do them preemptively, as part of a broader set of corrective actions.
Debt Clouds over the Middle East
Economic Research Forum
This policy brief analyses the extent to which diaspora investment can support economic development and livelihoods, with a particular focus on fragile settings. Using the case study of Somalia, the brief explores some of the main advantages and risks associated with this tool. On the one hand, diaspora investment can channel finance into productive activities in the diaspora’s country of origin, supporting the creation of revenue streams, while also generating returns for diaspora investors. On the other hand, particularly in fragile settings, these investments can also undermine social cohesion and even increase the likelihood of violent conflict, especially if they are channelled along identity lines.
Promoting Diaspora Investment in Fragile Settings: The Case of Somalia
Clingendael
The BRICS coalition is underpinned by three foundational pillars, relating to financial and economic collaboration, political and security cooperation and cultural and people-to-people exchanges. The 15th Summit, centered on the ‘BRICS and Africa’ theme, decided to invite Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as new members of the group.
BRICS: 15th Summit and Beyond
Manohar Parrokar Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses
The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and the Russia-Ukraine war, which began in February 2022, deepened the economic crises that many countries in the Arab world were already facing, while helping others, especially in the Gulf region. Today, hydrocarbon-importing countries are having to deal with unprecedented increases in food and energy prices, as well as soaring levels of unemployment, debt, and inflation.
Reform or Recklessness? Which Path for the Arab Region?
Carnegie Middle East Center
The oil and natural gas industry has historically played a pivotal role in the economies and political power structures of Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, generating fortunes from the export of these fossil fuels and thus enhancing their international influence. However, as the world shifts toward a cleaner, more sustainable future, the GCC states are also embracing this proud transition, moving from oil wells to power cells.
From oil wells to power cells: How Saudi Arabia and its Gulf neighbors are securing their future through battery technology
The Middle east Institute
Accelerating the growth of the green economy should happen rapidly through policy actions. If the global green transition is left to market forces, it can have grave consequences for the world. Considering the varied levels of technological advancements among countries, some will be better placed to develop and push forward green technology, whereas others will simply be adopting these new technologies.
Egypts Green Transition: Nurturing a Sustainable Economy and Workforce
Middle East Council on Global Affairs
This policy brief analyses the extent to which diaspora investment can support economic development and livelihoods, with a particular focus on fragile settings. Using the case study of Somalia, the brief explores some of the main advantages and risks associated with this tool.
Promoting diaspora investment in fragile settings: The case of Somalia
Clingendael
Steel, a vital material for human societies, enables progress in various sectors. However, the steel industry contributes about 7% of global carbon dioxide emissions due to its reliance on fossil fuels. The circular economy for steel can mitigate the detrimental impacts that arise from the steel industry. This report, prepared by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) in close collaboration with India's Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, aims to facilitate the discussion on a circular steel industry under India's G20 Presidency.
Towards a Circular Steel Industry
International Renewable Energy Agency
Steel, a vital material for human societies, enables progress in various sectors. However, the steel industry contributes about 7% of global carbon dioxide emissions due to its reliance on fossil fuels. The circular economy for steel can mitigate the detrimental impacts that arise from the steel industry. This report, prepared by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) in close collaboration with India's Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, aims to facilitate the discussion on a circular steel industry under India's G20 Presidency.
Towards a Circular Steel Industry
International Renewable Energy Agency
Lebanon needs a new aid strategy. It will need generous support to recover when reforms are initiated. But it also needs all the help it can get now to alleviate its current misery. What is required is a donor strategy that walks on two legs: a first leg that offers a big reconstruction push conditioned on economic and institutional reforms and, in parallel, a second leg that provides urgent support to the Lebanese population.
Lebanon needs a renewed donor support strategy
Middle East Institute
Despite some progress having been made, a large proportion of the African population is excluded from the digital economy due to physical infrastructure barriers.
Strengthening Africas Digital Infrastructure for Greater Economic Resilience
The South African Institute of International Affairs
This paper examines debt sustainability in Jordan. First, it notes Jordan’s economic trajectory, which has been characterized by long stop-go cycles; real GDP per capita peaked in the early 1980s followed by a precipitous decline in 1992, then peaked again in the early 2010s and has since declined to levels last seen in the early 2000s. Second, these long swings have been associated with increasing reliance on international support. Much of this international support has contributed to increasing levels of public debt, the composition of which is shifting from domestic to external browning – something that should be examined against the exchange rate that has remained pegged for three decades. Third, due to unprecedented high rates of economic growth during the 2000s, the debt-to-GDP ratio was reduced by half during the 2000s even though the debt level doubled.
Assessing the Sustainability of Jordans Public Debt: The Importance of Reviving the Private Sector and Improving Social Outcomes
Economic Research Forum
Benin is doing its part to minimise the adverse effects of climate change by adopting a stringent set of nationally determined commitments (NDCs). These include measures to reduce emissions in the agricultural, energy and forestry sectors. The government has made significant progress in meeting Benin’s NDCs since their inception. For example, major infrastructure investments have been made in both the energy and agricultural sectors. Overall, the objectives set out in the NDCs align well with the country’s national priorities, such as improving food insecurity and access to electricity. However, the government’s policy response to COVID-19 showed little overlap with the NDCs. Integration with future emergency policy responses could be achieved by aligning the government’s monetary policy with the NDCs. In particular, liquidity earmarked for the agricultural and microfinance sectors could be directed at projects that advance the achievement of the NDCs.
Benins Nationally Determined Contributions and its Economy
The South African Institute of International Affairs
Central Africa experienced accelerated growth in 2022, recording a real GDP growth rate of5.0% in 2022, up from 3.4% in 2021, according to African Development Bank statistics. This renew economic activity was driven by favourable commodity prices, particularly in a region with net exporters of not only crude oil, but also minerals and other commodities. This regional growth momentum was mainly sustained by the Democratic Republic of Congo which recorded a real GDP growth rate of 8.5% in 2022.
Central Africa Economic Outlook 2023
African Development Bank Group
Algeria is back. After years of self-imposed withdrawal from international politics under the leadership of geriatric former president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Algeria now wants to reinvigorate its role as a regional power. But it is re-emerging amid heightened tensions with its rival Morocco and rapidly destabilising southern and eastern neighbours.
Power couple: How Europe and Algeria can move beyond energy cooperation
European Council on Foreign Relations
Capital investment is needed to fund the green transition. This means that the finance sector must be involved in combating the climate crisis in countries around the world, including Lebanon. This column argues that to ensure that these funding needs are met, policy-makers should work in harmony with other stakeholders to ensure that businesses are incentivized to de-carbonise their operations. Only by easing the process of the green transition through sustainable financing can countries like Lebanon meet their environmental pledges. Policy action to support such funding is needed urgently.
Reframing Sustainable Finance: Lessons from Lebanon
Economic Research Forum
This study investigates the causal relationship, if any exists, between external debt and inflation in Jordan over the period 1970 to 2020 within a multivariate framework by including other determinants of inflation. The study uses an ARDL bounds testing approach to cointegration to test the existence of a long-run relationship between the inflation and its drivers. An error correction model is estimated to reveal the short-run dynamics between the series. The direction of causality is examined using Toda-Yamamoto Granger non-causality test. The results suggest a statistically significant long-term relationship between inflation and its drivers. The Toda-Yamamoto Granger noncausality test reveals a bi-directional causality between inflation and external debt, between the nominal effective exchange rate and inflation, and between money supply and inflation. Proper management of the exchange rate policy, money supply and external debt levels is crucial to control inflation rates in Jordan.
Estimating the Causal Relationship between External Debt and Inflation in Jordan: Evidence from an ARDL and Toda-Yamamoto Approaches
Economic Research Forum
Iranian-Chinese economic relations have grown steadily closer over the past four decades, with Beijing emerging as one of Tehran’s leading trade partners in recent years. Their economic relationship entered a new phase in the 1980s, when China started providing Iran with arms and technology during the Iran-Iraq War.
Obstacles and opportunities for closer Iranian-Chinese economic cooperation
Middle East Institute
Artificial intelligence (AI) is playing an increasingly important role in our daily lives. Having experienced considerable growth in recent years, artificial intelligence corresponds to technologies capable of processing hybrid sources, particularly unstructured data. The adoption and use of these modern technologies in the African context are currently low because of some emerging challenges. These difficulties may have a direct influence on African economic development. In this paper, we highlight the opportunities and challenges facing the adoption of AI technologies in Africa.
Artificial Intelligence Revolution in Africa: Economic Opportunities and Legal Challenges
Policy Center For The New South
Around 92% of Jordan’s citizens live in cities (World Banka, n.d.). The Kingdom also hosts a large refugee population from the conflict-ridden neighbouring states.
More than 80% of them live in urban areas. which are particularly sensitive to climate-related shocks and resource shortages. Jordanian cities are highly vulnerable to the disruption in critical food supplies, and climate change only exacerbates this vulnerability (The National Food Security Strategy 2021 – 2030, 2021). Moreover, climate shocks disproportionally affect the urban poor and vulnerable groups, such as older people, youth, people with disabilities and refugees, a large percentage of whom live in informal settlements (Alja’afreh et al., 2022) with limited access to viable livelihoods and precarious food and nutrition security, including the “silent hunger” of micronutrient deficiencies.
Urban Farming and Its Socioeconomic and Environmental Benefits for Ensuring Sustainable and Inclusive Growth in Jordan
Euromesco
In March 2020, Lebanon opted for a “hard default” on $32 billion in sovereign debt, allowing the government to avoid negotiating with its Eurobond holders and investors. Beirut thereafter showed little interest in addressing the consequences of default, and the country’s economic meltdown worsened. As usual, the Lebanese people were the casualties, suffering amid what the World Bank has called a “deliberate depression.” This official negligence has cleared the way for a proliferating cash economy—which in turn has spawned a currency exchange scheme involving the central bank, foreign exchange agents, and Lebanese politicians.
Cash Cabal: How Hezbollah Profits from Lebanons Financial Crisis
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Since its transformation from the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in 2002, the African Union (AU) has placed significant emphasis on ensuring good governance.
Good governance has been a priority of the African Union for many years and features strongly in its Agenda 2063. Yet it is a difficult concept to define and measure. To overcome this problem, the African Union has introduced different processes and instruments aimed at promoting good governance among member states, including the African Peer Review Mechanism (launched in 2003) and the African Governance Report (first published in 2019). This policy brief takes stock of the state of governance in Africa, according to various indices, with a view to determining the relative effectiveness of these two mechanisms in driving good governance on the continent.
Reading of the Week: Africas Governance Trajectory: Are AU Mechanisms Working?
South African Institute of International Affairs
Exorbitant food prices and food shortages—and, at one point, long queues for bread—became the norm in Lebanon following the country’s economic collapse in 2019, which sent shockwaves across all sectors of the economy and led to hyperinflation. By December 2022, 1.29 million Lebanese (one-third of the resident population) and 700,000 Syrian refugees (almost half the total in Lebanon) were facing severe food insecurity, with projections indicating a continued rise in 2023.
Breaking the Cycle: Toward a New Imaginary of the Food System in Lebanon
Carnegie Middle East Center
Inflation in Sudan has averaged 46 percent over the past decade, reaching 359 percent in 2021. Sudan’s history of high inflation suggests that strong inflationary pressures remain an important macroeconomic challenge for the country. Building on the African Development Bank’s (AfDB) 2023 background analysis on the Sources of Inflationary Pressures in Sudan, this Policy Brief identifies and quantifies these pressures over the period 1992-2022 and proposes policy measures to reduce inflation.
Sources of Inflationary Pressures in Sudan
African Development Bank Group
The European Union faces intricate challenges in its policy towards Tunisia. Examining the country’s intertwined political and socio-economic crises, the analysis sheds light on President Kais Saied’s populist politics, which have hindered the political transition and undermined democratic structures. Amidst the pressing challenge of high inflation, escalating debt, sluggish growth and critical shortages in basic goods, the analysis delves into the IMF loan negotiations amidst European concerns regarding Tunisia’s economic collapse and increased migration flows across the Mediterranean.
EU-Tunisia Relations: Unpacking the Conundrum
Istituto Affari Internazionali