Development Prospects for North Africa

This edition of Policy Perspective explains why the North African region has been successful in reducing poverty despite modest economic growth and explores the sustainability of past strategies in achieving this outcome in the future. It argues that low poverty in Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia can be traced to a combination of social policies, cultural characteristics and the nature of the political regimes rather than economic growth per se. Furthermore, it claims that this favorable outcome is not likely to be sustainable in the future without higher economic growth, improvements of social policies and more inclusive governance structures.