On Wednesday, the International Monetary Fund released its Middle East and Central Asia Regional Economic Outlook which shows a divergent picture in 2022 for the region, with oil exporters such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia expected to experience robust rates of growth thanks to higher oil prices.
Uncertainty is also increasing with the duration of the war in Ukraine a significant factor on how the rest of the Middle East and North Africa will fare amid rising inflation and growing food insecurity.
Jihad Azour, the Director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department at the IMF, told Business Extra policymakers will be required to take decisive action as vulnerable groups experience another crisis after “the huge impact” of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Hosts Mustafa Alrawi and Kelsey Warner
In this episode:
Impact of Ukraine-Russia war (1m 53s)
Uncertainty factors (4m 35s)
Is the Gulf insulated from uncertainty? (7m 8s)
Food crisis and solutions (9m 24s)
Iraq (11m 21s)
Egypt (14m)
Lebanon (16m 15s)
Tunisia (18m 45s)
Is the Middle East building resilience? (21m 20s)
Read more
Global action needed to prevent food crisis in Middle East and North Africa, warns IMF
Surging inflation and Russia-Ukraine war threaten Mena economic momentum, IMF says
