The Middle East and North Africa region is at another crossroads. Many countries were grappling with economic and social challenges before Covid-19 hit, compounding issues they already faced with water scarcity, pollution, and increased climate risks. The pandemic is fast eroding their hard-won gains in development, and now the gap between them and other middle-income countries is at risk of growing.
The burden of all the challenges they face has landed disproportionately on the poor and vulnerable, widening social and economic divisions and pushing more people into poverty. Fiscal constraints limit their capacity to recover at the speed and scale they need. Some countries are even fighting a second wave of the coronavirus, seeing a resurgence in cases.
As they struggle with their plans, a resilient, inclusive, sustainable and efficient recovery is more critical than ever. It could usher in a new model of growth. "Supporting a Resilient Recovery" is also the theme of this year's World Bank and IMF Annual Meetings from October 12-18. In particular, a high-level event titled "A Sustainable Recovery for People and Planet" will look at what investments today can unlock short-term gains—jobs and economic growth—as well as deliver the benefits of resilience, decarbonisation, cleaner air and cleaner water, healthier oceans, and more sustainable food and agriculture systems.
For the Mena region, recovering from the crisis will require a quick rebound in jobs—sorely needed even before Covid-19. About 4.9 million jobs are on the line because of the pandemic; 300 million young workers are still due to join the labor force over the next 30 years. Transitioning to a green economy has the potential to create millions of jobs, while making countries more resilient and competitive in tomorrow's world.
The right investments, such as upgrading infrastructure to meet sustainability standards, expanding climate smart and digital agriculture, improving landscape management, and upgrading slums can reap triple dividends: short-term jobs, more sustainability, and stronger inclusion.
Morocco is creating the next generation of green entrepreneurs by focusing on getting young people in rural areas into agri-smart enterprises, with a target of creating 350,000 new farmers by 2030. In Tunisia, conservation efforts and land and water management have helped diversify livelihoods in local communities and created additional sources of income, especially for women. More than 200 micro-projects have given outlying areas a boost, benefiting some 17,000 people, and helped combat desertification.
Around the world, countries are promoting green stimulus packages that support cleaner technologies, renewable energy, and smart cities, accelerating the switch to a low-carbon path and expanding productive investments at the same time.
Having to work around limited fiscal resources, presents an opportunity to tackle inefficiencies in public spending and at the same time improve natural resource management.
Reforms that support cost recovery in water services, promote water re-use, repurpose agricultural spending, or foster energy efficiency can help slim down government budgets—all with better outcomes for both people and the planet.
The cost of air pollution in Greater Cairo is estimated to be equivalent to 1.35 per cent of Egypt’s gross domestic product, while in Iraq the cost of environmental degradation represents losses of as much as 6.4 per cent of GDP a year. In Jordan, poor resource management and the Covid crisis have pushed the water authority’s annual deficit up to 2 per cent of GDP.
Recovery from this crisis must be inclusive. Before Covid, a weak state–citizen social contract threatened to undermine peace and stability in the region. It is critical now to use recovery to rebuild trust and ensure inclusivity.
Key to that is understanding the impact of the pandemic on different population groups and geographic regions within a country. With this information to hand, programmes can be designed to ensure no one is left out when it comes to accessing services, including digital and financial services, to soften the blow of other shocks.
The World Bank's response to the devastating explosion in Beirut is a case in point. Together with the United Nations and European Union, the bank developed a people-centred Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment to coordinate reconstruction efforts and to devise a way for much needed and long overdue reforms without which the already badly shattered trust between the state and its citizens will definitely fade away.
Last but not least, the pandemic is a cruel reminder of the importance of being proactive and prepared before disaster strikes. The estimated impact of climate change-induced water scarcity, for example, already amounts to 6 to 14 per cent of the Mena region’s GDP. In some countries, agricultural productivity could drop by up to 60 per cent. Parts of the region could experience more than 200 days a year of extreme heat and floods, while rising sea levels could displace millions of people and jeopardise coastal assets.
Climate-smart design is much less costly than repairing the damage. Targeted reforms, investments in green and grey infrastructure, research and development for coastal resilience, flood and drought risk management, land restoration, and reducing the urban heat island effect could each transform major challenges into new economic opportunities.
By virtue of their size, recovery programmes themselves present a rare chance to strengthen resilience to climate change.
The pandemic has presented the Mena region with a set of unprecedented challenges. The World Bank is ready to help it chart its way forward. We have already provided new financial commitments of up to $3.6 billion to Mena countries recovering from the dual economic shock of the pandemic and subsequent collapse in oil prices. The hope is to emerge from this crisis stronger. A resilient, inclusive, sustainable and efficient recovery could pave the way toward a more prosperous, sustainable, and equitable future.
Ferid Belhaj, is the World Bank's vice president for the Middle East and North Africa
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Results
2.15pm: Handicap Dh80,000 1,950m
Winner: Hello, Tadhg O’Shea (jockey), Ali Rashid Al Raihi (trainer).
2.45pm: Handicap Dh90,000 1,800m
Winner: Right Flank, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.
3.15pm: Handicap Dh115,000 1,000m
Winner: Leading Spirit, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar.
3.45pm: Jebel Ali Mile Group 3 Dh575,000 1,600m
Winner: Chiefdom, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer.
4.15pm: Handicap Dh105,000 1,400m
Winner: Ode To Autumn, Patrick Cosgrave, Satish Seemar.
4.45pm: Shadwell Farm Conditions Dh125,000 1,200m
Winner: Last Surprise, James Doyle, Simon Crisford.
5.15pm: Handicap Dh85,000 1,200m
Winner: Daltrey, Sandro Paiva, Ali Rashid Al Raihi.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
Friday (All UAE kick-off times)
Borussia Dortmund v Eintracht Frankfurt (11.30pm)
Saturday
Union Berlin v Bayer Leverkusen (6.30pm)
FA Augsburg v SC Freiburg (6.30pm)
RB Leipzig v Werder Bremen (6.30pm)
SC Paderborn v Hertha Berlin (6.30pm)
Hoffenheim v Wolfsburg (6.30pm)
Fortuna Dusseldorf v Borussia Monchengladbach (9.30pm)
Sunday
Cologne v Bayern Munich (6.30pm)
Mainz v FC Schalke (9pm)
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
'Unrivaled: Why America Will Remain the World’s Sole Superpower'
Michael Beckley, Cornell Press
Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Start-up hopes to end Japan's love affair with cash
Across most of Asia, people pay for taxi rides, restaurant meals and merchandise with smartphone-readable barcodes — except in Japan, where cash still rules. Now, as the country’s biggest web companies race to dominate the payments market, one Tokyo-based startup says it has a fighting chance to win with its QR app.
Origami had a head start when it introduced a QR-code payment service in late 2015 and has since signed up fast-food chain KFC, Tokyo’s largest cab company Nihon Kotsu and convenience store operator Lawson. The company raised $66 million in September to expand nationwide and plans to more than double its staff of about 100 employees, says founder Yoshiki Yasui.
Origami is betting that stores, which until now relied on direct mail and email newsletters, will pay for the ability to reach customers on their smartphones. For example, a hair salon using Origami’s payment app would be able to send a message to past customers with a coupon for their next haircut.
Quick Response codes, the dotted squares that can be read by smartphone cameras, were invented in the 1990s by a unit of Toyota Motor to track automotive parts. But when the Japanese pioneered digital payments almost two decades ago with contactless cards for train fares, they chose the so-called near-field communications technology. The high cost of rolling out NFC payments, convenient ATMs and a culture where lost wallets are often returned have all been cited as reasons why cash remains king in the archipelago. In China, however, QR codes dominate.
Cashless payments, which includes credit cards, accounted for just 20 per cent of total consumer spending in Japan during 2016, compared with 60 per cent in China and 89 per cent in South Korea, according to a report by the Bank of Japan.
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
Wallabies
Updated team: 15-Israel Folau, 14-Dane Haylett-Petty, 13-Reece Hodge, 12-Matt Toomua, 11-Marika Koroibete, 10-Kurtley Beale, 9-Will Genia, 8-Pete Samu, 7-Michael Hooper (captain), 6-Lukhan Tui, 5-Adam Coleman, 4-Rory Arnold, 3-Allan Alaalatoa, 2-Tatafu Polota-Nau, 1-Scott Sio.
Replacements: 16-Folau Faingaa, 17-Tom Robertson, 18-Taniela Tupou, 19-Izack Rodda, 20-Ned Hanigan, 21-Joe Powell, 22-Bernard Foley, 23-Jack Maddocks.
Infiniti QX80 specs
Engine: twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6
Power: 450hp
Torque: 700Nm
Price: From Dh450,000, Autograph model from Dh510,000
Available: Now
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
