The GCC Economies in the Wake of COVID19: Charting the Road to Recovery and Resilience
FromMar 09, 2021 To Mar 10, 2021
Online Webinar
The Economic Research Forum (ERF) and a consortium of a number of GCC universities and public policy institutions launched the GCC Economic Research Initiative (GCCERI) in May 2019. The aim of this strategic partnership is to build a network where GCC researchers and the wider ERF research community interact with each other, share ideas, and collaborate on policy-oriented research. GCCERI also seeks to enhance the research capacity in the GCC region by bridging knowledge gaps and addressing the region’s major economic and human development challenges.
The GCCERI was inaugurated on 8 and 9 December 2019 at the College of Economics and Political Science, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, the Sultanate of Oman. The event represented the culmination of fruitful collaboration between ERF and the College of Economics and Political Sciences. The inaugural conference highlighted the achievements of the GCC countries of relatively strong growth performance, low inflation and high investments for most of the last four decades. To maintain these achievements, the conference also stressed the need for undertaking a coherent set of institutional and policy reforms at both the micro and macroeconomic levels as well as critically assessing the social consequences of the current and potential economic programs.
However, by early 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated socio-economic lockdowns have exacted a high price on both the lives and the livelihoods of people in all economies, developed, emerging and developing alike.
For the oil and import-dependent GCC economies, the pandemic containment measures have presented these countries with particular challenges. Precipitous declines in oil prices that reached in the midst of the pandemic their lowest levels in 17 years, coupled with disruptions in global supply chains have affected all parts of their economies and, importantly, disrupted their entire production and revenue-generating cycle including in such sectors as travel and tourism.
GCC Governments are currently laying the groundwork for an economic recovery, heeding the lessons of past experiences and seeking to build a more efficient and resilient economy of the future. It is important to note that during the pandemic, all the GCC countries have taken stringent measures to contain the health impact of COVID19. They also introduced stimulus packages to help contain the economic fallout. In doing so, the GCC countries have successfully managed to safeguard the lives and the livelihoods of their residents. Looking ahead, the challenge is to ensure that the short-term impact of the pandemic does not translate into a long-term economic crisis.
Conference Objectives
Building on the success of the first conference, the ERF and its GCCERI partners organized this year’s conference of the GCC initiative on “The GCC Economies in the wake of COVID19: Charting the Road to Recovery and Resilience”. The objective of the conference is to discuss the economic impact of COVID-19 on the GCC countries, identify the lessons learned from this pandemic, and explore policy responses that would improve the efficiency and resilience of the GCC economies going forward. The conference is organized in collaboration with Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC), GCC universities and public policy and research institutions. In addition to three plenary sessions, the conference will feature presentations of 13 papers that were selected from the call for papers under the title of the conference.
This second conference underscores the commitment by the ERF and its GCCERI partners to nurture the initiative and establish it as a regular platform for knowledge-based research and policy dialogues. Under the broad theme pertaining to the shocks and responses to Covid-19, the three plenaries address issues of finance, economic prospects and policy challenges, and economic diversification. In addition, there are five sessions, based on the contributions to the open call, covering macroeconomic performance; firms and labor market responses; monetary Policy, prices and finance; and, education and civil service.
Agenda
Welcoming Remarks and Opening Session
Date
09/03/2021
Location
Online Webinar
Time
From 9:00 am To 9:30 am
Speakers
Senior Associates
Samir Makdisi
Professor Emeritus of Economics, American University of...
Research Fellows
Ibrahim Elbadawi
Managing Director, Economic Research Forum
Speakers
Fatima Al Shamsi
Former Deputy Executive Director for Administrative Affairs...
Speakers
H.E. Ohood Khalfan Al Roumi
Minister of State for Government Development and...
Videos
Session 1: Covid-19, Oil Price Shocks and Macroeconomic Performance in the GCC
Date
09/03/2021
Location
Online Webinar
Time
From 11:30 am To 12:50 pm
Speakers
Research Fellows
Majid A. Al-Moneef
Chairman of the International Advisory Committee of...
Research Fellows
Ibrahim Elbadawi
Managing Director, Economic Research Forum
Authors
Ayele Gelan
Research Economist, Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research...
Speakers
Fatma Mabrouk
Research and Teaching Faculty Member at Princess...
Authors
Hai Hong
Massey University, New Zealand
Papers
The Double Whammy on the Kuwaiti Economy, Macroeconomic Effects of the Coronavirus and Oil Price Shocks
During the first quarter of 2020, the Kuwaiti economy began to receive two major concurrent... Read More
The impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on the Economic Performance of Saudi Arabia
In this paper, we address two sets of questions. First, what are the real economic... Read More
Economic Consequences of COVID-19 Pandemic in MENA Region: Do Country Specific Characteristics Matter?
The coronavirus pandemic has undoubtedly brought about permanent changes to the world economies due to... Read More
Presentations
Videos
Session 2: GCC Firms and Labor Markets Responses to Covid-19 and Oil Price Shocks
Date
09/03/2021
Location
Online Webinar
Time
From 1:00 pm To 1:50 pm
Speakers
Research Fellows
Omar Ahmad Yusuf Al-Ubaydli
Director of Research, Derasat, Bahrain
Research Fellows
Nader Kabbani
Director of Research and Director of the...
Research Fellows
Sulyman Al-Qudsi
Principal Research Specialist, Kuwait Institute for Scientific...
Research Fellows
Amirah El-Haddad
Senior Economist, German Development Institute and Professor...
Papers
Kuwait’s Labor Market Dynamics during the Coronavirus Pandemic Policy Lessons from TED’s CEO Survey, Labor Force Supply and Household Survey 2020
The focused research conducted in this paper is part of a broader integrated policy-supportive research... Read More
Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise in the Arab Region in 2020: Structural Vulnerabilities at a Time of Multiple Shocks: The Cases of Kuwait, Jordan and Morocco (This paper is part of a UNDP funded project covered under UNDP’s copyright)
The COVID19 crisis has hit the Arab region at a time when many economies have... Read More
Videos
Plenary Session 2: Economic Prospects and Policy Challenges for the GCC Countries
Date
09/03/2021
Location
Online Webinar
Time
From 2:00 pm To 4:00 pm
Read the Policy Paper on Economic Prospects and Policy Challenges for the GCC Countries
Speakers
Senior Associates
Mahmoud Mohieldin
Professor, Department of Economics - Cairo University,...
Speakers
Daniel Kanda
Economist, International Monetary Fund
Speakers
Khalid Abdulla Taqi
General Manager, Eskan Bank
Speakers
Hatim Al Shanfari
Faculty Member, Department of Economics and Finance...
Research Fellows
Raed Safadi
Chief Economic Adviser, Dubai's Department of Economic...
Speakers
Ahmad Bin Hassan Al Shaikh
Managing Director, Hassan Bin Al Shaikh Industries
Research Fellows
Majid A. Al-Moneef
Chairman of the International Advisory Committee of...
Videos
Agenda
Plenary Session 3: Economic Diversification in the Gulf: Time to Redouble Efforts
Date
10/03/2021
Location
Online Webinar
Time
From 9:00 am To 10:30 am
Speakers
Research Fellows
Yousef Hamad Al-Ebraheem
Former Minister of Finance, Kuwait
Speakers
H.E. Abdulrahman A. Al Hamidy
Director General Chairman of the Board of...
Speakers
Ahmed Hashim Alyushaa
General Director of Research, Coordination and Follow-up,...
Research Fellows
Nader Kabbani
Director of Research and Director of the...
Speakers
H.E. Abdulrahman A. Al Hamidy
Director General Chairman of the Board of...
Speakers
Nouf Nassir AlSharif
Managing Director, Research Department, Jadwa Investment
Videos
Session 3: GCC Monetary Policy, Prices and Finance in the Wake of COVID-19 (I)
Date
10/03/2021
Location
Online Webinar
Time
From 11:00 am To 11:50 am
Speakers
Speakers
Samer Kherfi
Associate Professor, and Head of Department, Department...
Speakers
Mouawiya Al Awad
Director of the Institute of Social &...
Research Fellows
Ahmed Elsayed
Associate Professor of Financial Economics, United Arab...
Authors
Ismail H. Genc
Professor of Economics, Department of Economics, American...
Papers
Financial Stability and Monetary Policy Reaction: Evidence from the GCC Countries
The 2008 global financial turmoil and resultant slowdown in economic activities spurred economists to revisit... Read More
Emerging Markets Currency Interconnectedness in the aftermath of the Great Recession
Since international investors constantly reshuffle their portfolios in response to changing conditions, interactions among world... Read More
Presentations
Videos
Session 4: GCC Monetary Policy, Prices and Finance in the Wake of COVID-19 (II)
Date
10/03/2021
Location
Online Webinar
Time
From 12:00 pm To 1:00 pm
Speakers
Research Fellows
Raed Safadi
Chief Economic Adviser, Dubai's Department of Economic...
Authors
Ismail H. Genc
Professor of Economics, Department of Economics, American...
Senior Associates
Speakers
Sayed Abbas Ahmed
Professor of Accounting and Finance, National University,...
Speakers
Salim Al-Hajri
Assistant Professor of Management Information Systems at...
Speakers
Emad B. Mansour
Independent Statistics Consultant
Papers
The Financial Structure, Lending capacity and Banks performance in the Emerging Market: Does it Matter?
This study examines the relationship between financial structure, lending capacity and financial performance of banks... Read More
Customers’ Acceptance of E-Banking in Light of Covid-19 Pandemic: The Case of Oman
The Omani banking industry still lags behind in keeping up with the full adoption of... Read More
Construction of the Dubai Consumer Price Index in the Time of Coronavirus Pandemic
The spread of the coronavirus has led to sweeping changes in the way households work,... Read More
Presentations
Videos
Session 5: GCC Education and Civil Service in the Wake of COVID-19
Date
10/03/2021
Location
Online Webinar
Time
From 1:10 pm To 2:10 pm
Speakers
Speakers
Ali Al-Bulushi
Director, Center for Community Service and Continuing...
Speakers
Fatima Al Shamsi
Former Deputy Executive Director for Administrative Affairs...
Authors
Deepanjana Varshney
Full Professor, Business Administration, City University College...
Authors
Mohammad Zainal
Acting Dean College of Business Administration, Kuwait...
Authors
Robert Beschel
Nonresident Senior Fellow, Brookings Center Doha
Papers
Towards Developing a Viable Learning Model in the Higher Education Sector Post-COVID-19 Pandemic Outbreak in UAE Context
The COVID-19 outbreak spread in a rampant manner in the Middle East and North Africa... Read More
Adaptation and Resilience in the Post-covid19 Academic, Landscape: The Case of CBA, Kuwait University
The present paper discusses the impact of Covid19 pandemic on the academic operations of the... Read More
Covid-19 and Civil Service Reform in the GCC: New Urgency and Incentives for Tackling an Old Problem
This paper fits under theme three of the conference: improving government efficiency as a service... Read More
Presentations
Videos
Challenges & Prospects for GCC Economies Post Covid-19
Date
10/03/2021
Location
Online Website
Time
From 2:20 pm To 3:30 pm
Speakers
Policy Affiliates
Rola Dashti
Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social...
Research Fellows
Ibrahim Elbadawi
Managing Director, Economic Research Forum
Speakers
Mohammed Ali Yasin
Chief Strategy Officer & Clients, Al Dhabi...