Considering its history, the modern Arab economy has never looked better.
Nearly a hundred years ago, the Levantine Middle East and the Gulf - at one point among the most successful commercial blocs in history - was partitioned into bite-size morsels for Anglo-French ingestion. It was "led" by a fraternity of pliant monarchs and emirs who were deposed by nationalists, who were themselves toppled by the Baathists, who along with the Gulf states managed to squander the enormous wealth created by the first oil boom with such vigour that it took decades for the consequences to exhaust themselves. Today, with the help of another petroleum-fuelled liquidity glut and a new generation of planners, an increasingly diversified Arab economy is entering an unprecedented age of sustainable growth. Or so it appears.
The Middle East and North Africa region is expected to post average gross domestic product growth of 6.2 per cent this year, up from 5.5 per cent last year, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). The value of foreign direct investment in heavyweight economies such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt are at record highs. Regional trade agreements have energised intra-Arab commerce at a time when free trade elsewhere - from the Americas to Europe - is under assault. Arab central banks are enjoying growing levels of independence, while regulatory agencies such as Riyadh's Credit Market Authority are making their presence felt. Perhaps most significantly, output from non-oil industries in the Arab economy accounts for a rising share of growth. This year, according to the EIU, commercial activity unrelated to energy will grow by some seven per cent, thanks to increasingly robust service and manufacturing sectors. Even in Syria, which despite its relative isolation boasts an impressive light-manufacturing base, non-oil exports are compensating for the country's diminishing oil sales.
So what's wrong with this picture? Inflation of course - which is strangling an Arab middle class that was only just beginning to regenerate itself - and stubborn unemployment, which is as much a leading indicator for political unrest as it is an economic debility. The former is a symptom of global bottlenecks - on food, energy, labour - for which Arab leaders bear little responsibility. (Only the most grouchy libertarian would fault them for hiking civil-servant salaries and restoring food and fuel subsidies.) But double-digit jobless rates in a region projected to average six per cent growth over the last five years suggest a chronic and locally grown deficiency.
Throughout the Middle East, the government remains the largest employer, which means a substantial majority of the workingage population toils in the least efficient sector of the economy. However lucrative and courageous may have been the region's embrace of neoliberalism - the so-called "Washington Consensus" reform agenda that has been all but discredited, even in the United States - the toughest challenge lies ahead: the destruction of the sacred, iron rice bowl.
The problem does not discriminate. In secular Syria, the deputy prime minister for economic affairs, Abdullah al Dardari, is fighting traditionalists for the sake of civil service reform. In Saudi Arabia, laws supported by King Abdullah that would streamline the public sector payroll and base promotion on merit rather than longevity are bottled up in the Shura council. The result is a bureaucracy that either cannot or will not execute initiatives aimed at expanding the private sector. Saudi Arabia's plans for non-petroleum industrial zones have gone nowhere, for example, because the Industry and Trade Ministry has so far failed to provide the necessary infrastructure to support them.
A decade ago, Jordan's ambitions to become a hub for information technology was pre-empted by a report commissioned by the then Minister of Post and Communications that revealed half the people on his staff were redundant. Rather than act on the report, Jordan concentrated its energy on low wage manufacturing. Today, one of the country's largest export earners are garment mills in an industrial zone populated with cheap labour from South Asia.
The modern Arab economy has come a long way from its birth as a Balkanised imperial fiefdom. Its leaders have proved themselves worthy reformers by rejecting collectivisation in favour of free markets. But bloated government payrolls, a legacy of that same Franco-British imperium, starve the private sector of the resources it needs to develop critical mass. Unless those resources are freed, the Arab Middle East will have a first-rate, free market economy administered by a bargain-basement, socialised bureaucracy - a government "of the duds, by the duds and for the duds", as Winston Churchill derided the welfare state. As the British Colonial Secretary who partitioned the Middle East, Churchill knew a thing or two about how to undermine a healthy economy.
@email:sglain@thenational.ae
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Company%20Profile
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Results:
Men’s wheelchair 200m T34: 1. Walid Ktila (TUN) 27.14; 2. Mohammed Al Hammadi (UAE) 27.81; 3. Rheed McCracken (AUS) 27.81.
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
Cricket World Cup League Two
Oman, UAE, Namibia
Al Amerat, Muscat
Results
Oman beat UAE by five wickets
UAE beat Namibia by eight runs
Fixtures
Wednesday January 8 –Oman v Namibia
Thursday January 9 – Oman v UAE
Saturday January 11 – UAE v Namibia
Sunday January 12 – Oman v Namibia
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
The%20specs%20
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Company profile
Date started: January, 2014
Founders: Mike Dawson, Varuna Singh, and Benita Rowe
Based: Dubai
Sector: Education technology
Size: Five employees
Investment: $100,000 from the ExpoLive Innovation Grant programme in 2018 and an initial $30,000 pre-seed investment from the Turn8 Accelerator in 2014. Most of the projects are government funded.
Partners/incubators: Turn8 Accelerator; In5 Innovation Centre; Expo Live Innovation Impact Grant Programme; Dubai Future Accelerators; FHI 360; VSO and Consult and Coach for a Cause (C3)
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%3Cp%3EAriana%E2%80%99s%20Persian%20Kitchen%3Cbr%3EDinner%20by%20Heston%20Blumenthal%3Cbr%3EEstiatorio%20Milos%3Cbr%3EHouse%20of%20Desserts%3Cbr%3EJaleo%20by%20Jose%20Andres%3Cbr%3ELa%20Mar%3Cbr%3ELing%20Ling%3Cbr%3ELittle%20Venice%20Cake%20Company%3Cbr%3EMalibu%2090265%3Cbr%3ENobu%20by%20the%20Beach%3Cbr%3EResonance%20by%20Heston%20Blumenthal%3Cbr%3EThe%20Royal%20Tearoom%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
The specs
Engine: 2-litre 4-cylinder and 3.6-litre 6-cylinder
Power: 220 and 280 horsepower
Torque: 350 and 360Nm
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Price: from Dh136,521 VAT and Dh166,464 VAT
On sale: now
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League last 16, first leg
Liverpool v Bayern Munich, midnight, Wednesday, BeIN Sports
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
more from Janine di Giovanni
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
