The worsening economic conditions and the lack of structural reforms to improve the living standards of the population is auguring ill for the MENA region, which should brace for a surge of civil unrest in 2018 says an analysis published on the website of the UK’s leading Think Thank, Chatham House. The analysis, signed by Claire Spencer, Chatham House Senior Research Fellow, draws attention to a set of protests that have rocked the MENA region countries on the backdrop of failing economic policies. The year began with the Iranian protests in full swing. She said that the MENA region’s governments are running out of quick fixers as they are grappled with rising public account deficits and debts, offering little to mitigate the inflationary pressures on foodstuffs and basic services that new taxation and cutbacks inflict disproportionately on the poor. The MENA region’s citizens have borne the brunt of IMF-backed economic reforms as the countries struggle to regain economic balance seven years after the Arab Spring, she said.

Source: The North Africa Journal February 05, 2018 00:11 UTC