## Arab Countries in Transition - Economic Outlook and Key Challenges

_Policy Papers, October 6, 2015_

## Source details

**Canonical URL:** [Arab Countries in Transition - Economic Outlook and Key Challenges](https://www.imf.org/en/publications/policy-papers/issues/2016/12/31/arab-countries-in-transition-economic-outlook-and-key-challenges-pp4989)

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## Bibliographic details
- Published: October 6, 2015
- Series: Policy Papers

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### Overview and economic outlook
- The Arab Countries in Transition (ACTs) have had diverging trajectories over the past year and face an uncertain outlook.
- Improvements in the European economy, lower oil prices, and some progress on the policy front have provided tailwinds to growth.
- Growth is expected to pick up significantly in Egypt and Morocco.
- Unemployment remains high across the ACTs.

### Conflicts, spillovers, and humanitarian challenges
- Several ACTs have suffered from intensifying and spreading conflicts that cause widespread human suffering and sizeable economic challenges.
- Libya and Yemen are directly affected by conflict.
- Spillovers from conflicts and the civil wars in Iraq and Syria weigh on Jordan and Tunisia, as well as other countries in the region (e.g., Lebanon, Djibouti), Turkey and Europe.
- These spillovers come most prominently in the form of:
  - large refugee flows
  - deteriorating security
  - pressures on economic infrastructures and labor markets

### Policy implications and recommended actions
- The combination of economic headwinds and conflict-related spillovers adds urgency to the need to:
  - strengthen economic resilience in the Arab countries
  - address long-standing sources of inequity and exclusion
- Coordinated and scaled-up support from the international community will be critical to:
  - stabilizing conditions in the region
  - addressing the refugee crisis
  - securing a more promising economic future for the ACTs in this challenging environment

### Publication metadata and subjects (as listed)
- Publication date: October 6, 2015
- Subjects: Cross country analysis, Economic conditions, Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Oil prices, Regional Economic Outlook, Transition economies, Tunisia, Unemployment, Yemen

*Source: Arab Countries in Transition - Economic Outlook and Key Challenges (October 6, 2015).*

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- **100815a**
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_Source: https://www.imf.org/en/publications/policy-papers/issues/2016/12/31/arab-countries-in-transition-economic-outlook-and-key-challenges-pp4989_