Recording the fastest growth rate since 2016, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region’s economy is predicted to grow by 5.5% in 2022, the World Bank says. 

The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which exports oil, has benefited from high oil prices. This year, the GCC is predicted to grow by 6.9%, which is one full percentage point higher than World Bank’s prediction six months ago.

Emerging oil importers are anticipated to increase by 4.5% this year and 4.3% the next, while developing oil exporters like Algeria, Iraq, and Libya are predicted to grow by 4.1% this year and 2.7% in 2023. 

According to Kristalina Georgieva, secretary-general of the International Monetary Fund, the region is a bright point on a gloomy horizon as numerous global economies struggle. Because of “varying effects, MENA countries employed policies that reduced the amount of the higher global prices for food and fuel that were passed through to the prices their consumers paid,” said Georgieva. 

Inflation in MENA countries is lower than in the US, Europe, and other emerging and developing countries. However, the MENA region, according to the World Bank, is required to improve accountability and transparency, “that is, to build elements that enable the state and the bureaucracy to monitor, align duties, experiment, learn over time from these outcomes, and course correct when needed.” 

According to the World Bank, improved institutional reforms and governance can aid nations in reducing the risks of debt distress. “Such a culture of institutional learning in MENA is, if anything, still emerging,” it added, and the necessary improvements were “within reach and not fiscally costly.”