A report issued by the International Monetary Fund on the Middle East and Central Asia showed that the return of the countries of the region to the levels of economic growth that they were witnessing before the crisis of the Coronavirus may take 10 years, as long-standing weaknesses in the region put pressure on its recovery.
According to the IMF, the "Covid-19" crisis represents the fastest-impacting economic shock in recent history, indicating that the economic wound, which includes long-term losses for growth, income and employment, will likely be deeper and longer-term than that which followed the global financial crisis of 2008 and 2009. Revealing that the estimates indicate that after 5 years from now, the level of GDP in the countries of the region may be 12 percent lower than the pre-crisis trends, and it may take more than a decade to return to this trend level.
The International Monetary Fund expects the economies of the region to shrink 4.1 percent this year, which is a bigger contraction of 1.3 percent compared to the fund's expectations in April.
In this regard, the Director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department at the IMF, Jihad Azour, stated that "the crisis has exacerbated vulnerabilities, and the region will suffer from its worst economic performance, surpassing the record contraction of 4.7 percent in 1978."
Source (Al-Arabiya.net, Edited)
