Tunis/Tunisia — Real GDP growth in the MENA region is projected to pick up to 4.0 percent in 2021, an upgrade of 0.9 percentage point relative to October, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in a report released Sunday under the title: "Regional Economic Outlook: Middle East and Central Asia." The outlook will vary significantly across countries, depending on the pandemic's path, vaccine rollouts, underlying fragilities, exposure to tourism and contact-intensive sectors. 2021 will be the year of policies that continue saving lives and livelihoods and promote recovery, while balancing the need for debt sustainability and financial resilience. By the end of 2020, thirteen countries had government debt exceeding 70 percent of GDP (compared with nine by the end of 2019). Fourteen countries, compared with five in prepandemic times, had public gross financing needs exceeding 15 percent of GDP.

Source: The North Africa Journal April 12, 2021 10:07 UTC