Stabilization and Adjustment: Towards Inclusive and Sustainable Policies in MENA

In some ways, the economic and financial situations in several MENA countries resemble those that prevailed in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Back then, structural adjustment programs managed to gradually reduce macro-imbalances, but the forced rollback of the state led to a worsening of state services, halting social mobility. At the same time, the economy was only liberalized in a selective manner, resulting in the development of a form of capitalism with limited competition and innovation, which did not manage to generate sufficient inclusive growth.

The overall objective of the project is to develop macro-economic scenarios with improved external and internal balances, and a program of structural reforms that can foster sustainable and inclusive growth paths, in Egypt, Lebanon, Tunisia, Morocco, Sudan and Jordan. The project is co-directed by a team from ERF and from FDL, and it relies on a technical secretariat.