The external financing needs of oil importing countries in the Middle East and North Africa will exceed USD 160 billion over the next 3 years and donor countries must step in to help.
The International Monetary Fund said that in a report to the Group of Eight meeting in Deauville, France, the IMF urged G8 industrial nations and rich Arab partners to develop an action plan that lays out what help they could provide countries in need.
Mr Masood Ahmed in charge of Middle East and Africa at the IMF said that "The region needs to prepare for a fundamental transformation of its economic model. This will be greatly facilitated if international players including the G8 can enter into strategic partnership with these countries where incentives are linked to a social agenda."
G8 leaders, meeting in the northern French seaside resort of Deauville for a two day summit, said in an early draft of their joint statement that they stood ready to meet the region's financing needs. Countries such as Egypt and Tunisia are facing economic pressures following mass protests that toppled their autocratic rulers. Uprisings have also roiled Yemen, Jordan, Morocco and Syria and left the government of Libya fighting to stay in power.
The IMF said that in the immediate future, there is a need to restore confidence in the oil importing countries, which face surging global commodity prices and domestic pressures associated with the initial transition shocks. It was able to provide about USD 35 billion to try to stabilize countries' economies.
Over the next 18 months the bulk of the financing will need to come from the international community, because markets were uncertain about the political and economic transitions in countries.
Mr Ahmed said that the group of oil importers would need to create 55 million to 70 million jobs mostly for young people in the coming decade while stimulating a private sector economy that has long been neglected in favor of state run businesses. In addition, countries such as Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia and Syria are facing inflationary pressures due to a surge in global food and energy prices.
(Sourced from Reuters)
