100m jobs needed in Africa
2005-04-18 17:59
Washington - The countries of the Middle East and North Africa, despite their oil-powered booming economies, are nonetheless failing to create employment opportunities, the World Bank said on Sunday.
There are an estimated 100m job-seekers who will enter the labour market in the next 20 years.
"Strong growth (in the Middle East and North Africa) over the last two years does not change the fundamentals for this region," said Mustapha Nabli, World Bank Chief Economist for the region.
"We are still talking about a region with limited private sector activity and employment creation, limited integration into the global economy and strong dependence on volatile oil markets."
He was commenting on a Bank report assessing economic developments and prospects in the Middle East and North Africa.
Economic momentum in the region over the last two years averaged 5.6%, compared with growth of 3.6% in the 1900s.
But the report maintained that such a pace was still not sufficent to meet demands for job creation.
It said the economies of the Middle East and North Africa needed to become less regulated, more private sector-oriented and less dependent on oil exports.
While the region had made impressive strides in reducing tariff and non-tariff trade barriers, "progress in improving the business climate ... has been the weakest in the world," the report said.
It added that on average the countries of the Middle East and North Africa rank in the bottom third of the world in efforts to implement a range of business regulatory and financial sector reforms.
There has likewise been meagre success in improving governance as measured by public administration and public sector accountability.