The president of the Union of Arab Chambers, Nael Al-Kabariti, said that last year 2017 was very challenging for the Arab economy, but it proved a great ability to withstand and adapt, as he expected that the performance in the new year to be positively driven by global factors.

He said that the performance of the Arab economies was affected by the continuous conflicts in some countries and its repercussions on neighboring countries, the developments in the international oil markets in terms of reducing the quantities of production to reduce the price decline, and the impact of fiscal control measures.

Al-Kabariti added in an interview with “Petra”, a Jordanian news agency, that these factors affected the growth rate expected to average the Arab countries group to about 1.9 percent by the end of 2017.

He also pointed to the high rates of inflation in most Arab countries during the past year, with most of them liberalizing the prices of energy materials partially or completely, and a number of them to cancel the exemptions on some goods as well as the increase of taxes and fees on many goods and services and the adoption of some systems more flexible exchange rate.

He also indicated that the Arab economic indicators during the last year involve a wide disparity between the Arab countries despite the multiplicity and overlap of the ruling data of the Arab economies. Nevertheless, the economic conditions remain subject to developments of prices and production and export of oil, which represents 85 % of the region's exports, more than 60 %t of government revenues, and more than 30 % of GDP.

“There is a concentration of Arab domestic production in seven countries, most of them oil rich, namely Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Iraq, Algeria, Qatar and Kuwait, where the output of these countries is about 70 % of the Arab gross domestic product.” Al-Kabariti said.

He continued: "The population of the Arab world is expected to reach about 400 million by the end of 2017 noting the decline in migration is due to the tightening of restrictions, while there are population centers in seven countries: Egypt, Algeria, Iraq, Sudan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, which account for 83.1 % of Arab GDP.

Al-Kabariti clarified that the inflation rate of the Arabs estimated at 7.8 % because of the rise in 12 Arab countries, most of which witnessed reform programs to remove subsidies, especially on energy, which led to higher prices of goods and fuel.

The President of the Union estimated that the volume of foreign trade of goods and services in Arab countries amounted to 2144 billion dollars last year compared to 1971 billion in 2016. While the current account deficit is expected to decrease by the end of 2017, with the relative stability in oil prices and the emergence of new investment laws in Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria and Oman, as well as Saudi Arabia opening new fields to foreign investment.

With regard to the reserves of foreign currencies in the Arab countries, Al-Kabariti, who chairs the Jordan Chamber of Commerce, also pointed to an increase in its reserves in Jordan, Tunisia, Sudan, Qatar, Kuwait, Morocco and Bahrain, as compared to the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Iraq, Oman, Lebanon and Egypt.

He also predicted that the growth rate in the Arab countries will improve this year to about 3.1%, which will raise the Arab GDP to approximately $ 2.8 trillion in conjunction with expectations of the improvement of the global economy and the possibility of stability of oil prices above $ 50 a barrel as well as the marked decline in violence and conflict in the region.

Mr. Kabariti pointed to the initiatives that have emerged in several Arab countries in terms of developing ambitious visions for diversifying their economies and unprecedented reforms that have taken place will contribute to fortifying the situation and pushing forward the growth rates, calling on the Arab countries to benefit from the expected growth in the volume of international investment flows, especially with the improvement efforts for the legislative and procedural climate in some of them.

President of the Union of Arab Chambers expressed his hope to provide the fundamentals needed by the average investor and to establish the stability of the legislative and financial environment stability and provide appropriate incentives in sectors that are a priority development and investment in infrastructure, whether traditional or modern and sophisticated information which meets the needs of development and the knowledge economy, and put them at the disposal of investors at moderate prices so that productive investments could produce at competitive costs.

He also expressed his hope that Arab countries will work to develop programs to modernize education and strengthen the science and technology structure to keep abreast of the development and needs of the labor markets, thus providing decent work opportunities.

Al-Kabariti pointed out that, “The most important challenges facing the Arab countries during the current year is to provide employment opportunities for young people and to guide them to create new employment opportunities in various fields of life and to provide equal opportunities for both genders, provide women's economic empowerment and legislative fairness, in addition to encouraging the start-up companies to invest in the Fourth Industrial Revolution projects, and to provide the appropriate investment environment to encourage investment in environmental protection projects, sustainable food, water security, renewable energy, green industries and sustainable transport.

Regarding the Union's plans for the upcoming year, Al-Kabariti pointed out that the Union will follow up its activities on issues that complement its development plan, implement new, innovative business activities and will promote the capacity of the Arab Chambers in addition to holding several important regional and international economic meetings to activate its role in issues of development, investment, economic integration and sustainable foundations.

He said that the current year would witness the activation of many cooperation agreements signed last year with major Arab and foreign countries, including China, India, Turkey, and European & African countries. The Union will continue its activities in support of Arab economic integration in cooperation with the League of Arab States and the Arab Economic Integration System in many areas, the most important of which is the Greater Arab Free Trade Area and the promotion of investment in the Arab region.

He also pointed out that the Union will continue its activities to support entrepreneurship, food safety issues within the framework of intra-Arab trade, to reduce unemployment, promote and empower women, activate the role of the private sector and the Arab Chambers in sustainable development, in addition to holding international forums and enhancing the activities of the Joint Arab foreign chambers.

According to Al-Kabariti, the Union will implement during the year 2018 an intensive research and intellectual work program specialized in emerging economic topics, which will contribute to the needs of the Arab private sector. It will include studies, work papers, periodicals, daily economic e-newsletter, as well as the quarterly newsletter on economic affairs and Arab integration. The Union will also follow up the development of its new website to keep pace with the global technological development and be a reference for the private sector and the Arab business community and the concerned Arab official bodies.