Alarming numbers in a number of Arab countries (Mohamed Al-Shahed / France Press)
A report of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), on Friday, said that a third of the population in Arab countries They fall below the line povertyAnd this is despite an expected increase in economic growth, as the economies of the Arab region will witness a growth of 4.5 percent in 2023 and 3.4 percent in 2024.
According to the report, the inflation rate in the region rose to an average of 14 percent in 2022, and this rate is expected to decrease in the next two years to reach 8 and 4.5 percent, respectively.
The report said that in parallel with the increase in the proportion inflation “Poverty levels also increased in 2022 compared to previous years, bringing the number of poor people to nearly 130 million people, representing a third of the region’s population, with the exception of the GCC and Libya.”
“These levels are expected to continue to rise over the next two years, reaching 36 percent in 2024,” he added.
“Despite the positive growth prospects in the region, there are large disparities between countries, which were exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, and thus the repercussions differed from one country to another,” Ahmed Momi, the supervisor of the survey preparation team, said in a press release after the official release of the report.
“Countries will benefit,” he said GCC Other oil-exporting countries will suffer from high energy prices, while oil-importing countries will suffer from several social and economic repercussions, including high energy costs, food shortages, a decline in the tourism sector and international aid provided.
Momi stressed that the current situation “represents an opportunity for Arab oil-exporting countries to diversify their economies away from the energy sector, by accumulating reserves and investing in projects that generate comprehensive growth and sustainable development.”
In addition, the UN-ESCWA report indicated that unemployment rates were the highest in the world, reaching 12 percent in 2022. It is expected that these rates will decrease slightly in 2023 to reach 11.7 percent in light of efforts to revive economies after the Corona pandemic.
He stated that the expected overall decrease in the unemployment rate for the next year is driven by “an improvement in the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council. (However) unemployment remains a source of concern in most middle-income countries, with the exception of Egypt. Lebanon is likely to continue to record the highest unemployment rate in the Arab region, by about 29.2 percent in 2022, as a result of its ongoing financial and economic crisis.
The report indicated that the Arab countries had barely “managed to enter into some kind of recovery from the consequences of the Corona pandemic until the war broke out in Ukraine, and it caused great economic effects, some positive and others negative.”
In this regard, he explained that some countries in the region benefited from the increase in energy prices, while other countries suffered from the additional burdens of these costs, in addition to the declining food supplies, the decline in the tourism sector and the flow of international aid.
Regarding the estimates that preceded the Russian war on Ukraine, it predicted that “growth in the region will reach about 5.2 percent in 2022, but it is not expected now to exceed 4.5 percent in 2023, and 3.4 percent in 2024.”
The report stressed that these expectations “are fraught with risks and uncertainties, especially from the occurrence of a new wave of the Corona virus, the prolonged war in Ukraine, the expansion of sanctions against the Russian Federation, and the occurrence of an economic collapse in some Arab countries that suffer from difficult social and economic conditions.” conflict and political instability.
On the other hand, the report indicated that the GCC countries benefited “from the recovery of oil markets, which began in 2021, and will benefit from the rise in energy prices resulting from the war in Ukraine.”
He stated that “in April 2022, oil production in the GCC countries was 20 percent higher compared to the previous year, as it had exceeded pre-pandemic levels. Therefore, the GCC countries will witness the highest growth rates they have recorded since 2014, reaching to 6.3 percent in 2022, then to 4.6 percent in 2023, and 3.3 percent in 2024.
The report expected to witness DiameterAmong the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, the highest growth rates of 7.6 percent in 2022 and 6.4 percent in 2023, as a result of the increase in prices and demand for natural gas, in addition to the tremendous activity witnessed by tourism in the country with Doha hosting the 2022 session of the world Cup of football”.
Qatar is followed by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where its economy is expected to have grown by 6.4 percent in 2022 and 4.3 percent in 2023, “benefiting from the global rise in energy prices, the resumption of Hajj as of 2022, and increased investments through Public Investment Fund”.
The report focused on gender parity in terms of health and survival, as it monitored the failure of any Arab country to achieve full gender parity, while the region has made great progress in bridging the gender gap in the field of education.
He also noted a slight improvement “in terms of economic participation and opportunities,” but said that there were still structural barriers to women’s participation in the Arab region.
According to the report, the percentage of companies that have women in the upper ranks of management does not exceed 5 percent. As for the women’s participation rate in the labor force in the Arab region, it is “the lowest in the world, and it is estimated that it did not exceed 19.9 percent in 2022, which is much lower than the global average of 46.6 percent.”
As for unemployment rates among Arab women, they are the highest in the world, “as they are estimated at 22 percent, compared to the global average of 6 percent.” The report monitored that these rates are higher among young women (ages 15 to 24), reaching about 44 percent, compared to an unemployment rate among young men of 22.8 percent, while global rates reached 15.2 percent for young women in 2002, and 14.5 percent for young men. .