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[size=36]World Bank: Financial performance hurt the Middle East's handling of the pandemic[/size]
Economie| 09:14 - 07/10/2021
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Today, Thursday, the World Bank confirmed that countries in the Middle East and North Africa are struggling to recover from the Covid-19 crisis, as economic crises have been exacerbated by weak financing of public health systems.
The bank said in a report that the total cost of the COVID-19 pandemic, estimated according to GDP losses, will reach nearly $200 billion in the region by the end of the year.
According to the report, 13 of the 16 countries in the region will record a decline in living standards this year compared to what they were before the pandemic, as GDP per capita is expected to decline by 1.1 percent this year after a 5.4 percent decline in 2020.
The bank said, "Economic trends The long-term social and underfunded public health systems have left the MENA region ill-equipped to deal with the pandemic, which is contributing to a fragile and inhomogeneous recovery as the region strives to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the ten years leading up to the pandemic and following the Arab Spring protests in 2011, the region failed to undertake deep reforms aimed at transitioning to a market-based economic model, which led to the expansion of the public sector.
"In this context, the Middle East and North Africa region has suffered from poor financial performance with high public sector wage bills and ultimately government spending on health becoming unusually low relative to the level of development in the region," the bank said.
Most of the countries in the region recorded a greater than average increase in government spending ratios to GDP between 2009 and 2019, compared to their peers that started at the same level of per capita income.
"In the social context prevailing in the region, many countries have over-employed government sector workers to maintain peace and social harmony," the bank stated.
"For all MENA countries for which data are available, the rates of government spending on health compared to spending on public sector wages are lower than in other countries with the same income," he added.
Looking ahead, the Bank expects a heterogeneous recovery, partly due to different vaccination rates against Covid-19, with richer countries leading by a wide margin.
“Health and the economy have become intertwined,” Roberta Gatti, chief economist for the Middle East and North Africa at the World Bank, told Reuters. “What ultimately turned out to be key is how to fight a pandemic.”
"Improving investment in data collection, sharing and dissemination can take a long time, and it may be something cheap that can be done to contribute to monitoring the area," she added.
The bank said in a report that the total cost of the COVID-19 pandemic, estimated according to GDP losses, will reach nearly $200 billion in the region by the end of the year.
According to the report, 13 of the 16 countries in the region will record a decline in living standards this year compared to what they were before the pandemic, as GDP per capita is expected to decline by 1.1 percent this year after a 5.4 percent decline in 2020.
The bank said, "Economic trends The long-term social and underfunded public health systems have left the MENA region ill-equipped to deal with the pandemic, which is contributing to a fragile and inhomogeneous recovery as the region strives to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the ten years leading up to the pandemic and following the Arab Spring protests in 2011, the region failed to undertake deep reforms aimed at transitioning to a market-based economic model, which led to the expansion of the public sector.
"In this context, the Middle East and North Africa region has suffered from poor financial performance with high public sector wage bills and ultimately government spending on health becoming unusually low relative to the level of development in the region," the bank said.
Most of the countries in the region recorded a greater than average increase in government spending ratios to GDP between 2009 and 2019, compared to their peers that started at the same level of per capita income.
"In the social context prevailing in the region, many countries have over-employed government sector workers to maintain peace and social harmony," the bank stated.
"For all MENA countries for which data are available, the rates of government spending on health compared to spending on public sector wages are lower than in other countries with the same income," he added.
Looking ahead, the Bank expects a heterogeneous recovery, partly due to different vaccination rates against Covid-19, with richer countries leading by a wide margin.
“Health and the economy have become intertwined,” Roberta Gatti, chief economist for the Middle East and North Africa at the World Bank, told Reuters. “What ultimately turned out to be key is how to fight a pandemic.”
"Improving investment in data collection, sharing and dissemination can take a long time, and it may be something cheap that can be done to contribute to monitoring the area," she added.
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