A report issued by the World Bank showed that the absence of a forward-looking and developmental vision for some countries in the Arab region has exacerbated the repercussions of the Corona pandemic and increased its negative economic and social effects.
The Vice President of the World Bank for the Middle East and North Africa, Farid Belhaj, said that the impact of the health pandemic was negative and strong on the economies of the world as a whole, but the MENA region countries were the most affected, as poverty rates rose and the health sectors in some countries were on the brink of collapse.
According to Belhaj, the negative effects of the pandemic on the social level were evident in the increase in poverty rates to unprecedented rates, as the percentage of people living below the poverty line in Lebanon increased to 56 percent and in Tunisia 21 percent.
He also stated that the reason for the depth of the negative impact of the pandemic is the absence of a clear forward-looking and developmental view of some countries in the region and the absence of a political decision related to reforms in them. Belhaj pointed out that the pandemic has increased the accumulation and should not be used as an excuse for the catastrophic situation that some countries in the region have reached.
Source (London-based Al-Arab Newspaper, Edited)
