Growth, Investment, and Savings in the Arab Economies

July 1, 1997

Disclaimer: This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF.The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate

Summary

Sustaining a high rate of economic growth is the major policy issue facing the Arab economies. A detailed analysis of growth, investment, and savings for the period 1971-96, including through a growth accounting exercise, shows that increasing long-run growth requires improvements in both investment and domestic savings. In the past, the Arab region’s growth was overly reliant on volatile external sources of funding, and total factor productivity growth was too low. The paper discusses the policy priorities to overcome the legacy of poor growth.

Subject: Domestic savings, Economic growth, Growth accounting, Labor, National accounts, Production, Total factor productivity

Keywords: Arab, capital share, Domestic savings, East Asia, Growth, Growth Accounting, Investment, investment performance, Middle East and North Africa, private sector investment, Savings, savings-investment balance, sound investment decision, TFP growth, TFP measure, Total factor productivity, WP

Pages:
36
Volume:
1997
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5089/9781451850710.001
Issue:
085
Series:
Working Paper No. 1997/085
Stock No:
WPIEA0851997
ISBN:
9781451850710
ISSN:
1018-5941

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