By Majd Othman

KUWAIT: The IMF-Middle East Center for Economics and Finance (CEF) in Kuwait in collaboration with the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD) organized a high-level seminar on 'Economic Challenges and Policy Choices for the MENA region on Monday. The event was held in hybrid mode in which some participants attended in-person at the AFESD's headquarters in Kuwait while others joined virtually from other countries in the region and from the IMF headquarters in Washington, DC.

The panel discussion was chaired and moderated by Paulo Drummond, Director of the IMF-Middle East Center for Economics and Finance. He said the event was aimed at stimulating an open debate on the evolving economic challenges and policy tradeoffs faced by policymakers in Arab countries. The keynote speaker was Masood Ahmed, president of the Center for Global Development in Washington, DC. Panelists included Zeine Zeidane, Deputy Director of the IMF's Middle East and Central Asia Department, Karen Young, Senior Research Scholar at Columbia University, Mohamed Lahouel, Chief Economist at the Department of Economic Development in Dubai, and Ibrahim Elbadawi, Managing Director of the Economic Research Forum.

In his capacity as the event moderator, Drummond emphasized the importance of thoroughly understanding the global economic context that affects Arab countries as it is quite diverse comprising resource-rich countries, middle-income and emerging markets, as well as low-income, fragile, and conflict-affected countries.

KUWAIT: Seminar on 'Economic Challenges and Policy Choices for the MENA region.

In his keynote speech, Masood Ahmed shared his views of the global economic environment, providing the context for the economic policy decisions that countries in the region will need to make, while he emphasized the need for a consensus on the gloomy global economic conditions among global institutions and economic thought leaders in the aftermath of the annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank in Washington last month.

Zeine Zeidane, gave an overview of the IMF's latest Economic Outlook for the region, as he started by explaining how the worsening global conditions have been weighing on the region's outlook amid rising risks. He also highlighted the added fiscal and external vulnerabilities that emerging markets in the region are facing, policy priorities, and the IMF's efforts in supporting countries in the region.

According to the building on the global context provided at the seminar, Karen Young highlighted future challenges to macroeconomic stability in the region's oil-exporting countries, especially the GCC, while she emphasized new risks and opportunities to economic growth and diversification efforts in this country group, in addition to the climate policy progress in the region and the GCC.

In his remarks, Mohamed Lahouel explained how the region's middle income and emerging markets are faring amidst challenging economic context, including the issues of food and energy security and outlined the key policy priorities for these country groups.

Ibrahim Elbadawi discussed the vulnerability of fragile and conflict-affected countries in the region, which have high debt ratios, collapsed economies, high food import dependency, and a legacy of subsidized commodity prices. He briefly outlined elements of a new social contract and the importance of mobilizing support for economic reforms.