Page 14 - issue_32_en

ﻋ
ELITE Vol.1, Issue 32, June 2021 ﺔﻴﺑﺮ #

The World Bank and the IMF announced that Sudan could be The Executive Board of the IMF were tracking the usage of
qualified for a debt relief that is expected to raise economic the funds in a number of Arab states. In Bahrain, they
conditions and standards of living. This is the embodiment of the appreciated the coordinated policy that addressed the effects
joint efforts of the World Bank and the African Development of the pandemic, and welcomed the structural changes in the
Bank to support African countries and reduce poverty. The agenda of Bahrain. They also saw that Egypt handled the
process of reducing the debts of Sudan is currently underway. It is pandemic well and adopted proactive measures to the
expected that the parties that are owed by Sudan to have a share in pandemic. However, the situation of Iraq worsened as a
this debt relief. result of the accompanying decline in oil revenues along
with the pandemic, but they also welcomed the fiscal
Obaid Bin Humaid Al Tayer, Minister of State for Financial reforms outline. The IMF commended the strong reform
Affairs, issued a statement, describing the policy responses progress made by Jordan, Qatar, Oman, UAE, The
towards the middle-east after the COVID 19 crisis as he saw that Maldives, and Kuwait and their quick response to the
the policy responses of the organization were rapid and effective, pandemic. However, Yemen and Lebanon are suffering
which led to high economic recovery and increased resilience, from persisting crises beside the crisis of the pandemic
even though it was not evenly distributed among countries of the itself.
region and among different sectors, and he also called for more
efforts to the financial needs of the region. Al-Tayer also called
the resumption of monitoring the activities in the area until all
countries become safe from this crisis and the focus of the weak
countries and those engulfed in conflicts.

Finally, there were some revisions on past events regarding
the future of globalization during the current pandemic and
In their conventions, the IMF and the World bank discussed the how to sustain development and finance it during the
African case and how can it exit the crisis caused by the pandemic, as their application may be changed and affected
pandemic. This needed domestic policies along with the as a result of the pandemic.
organizations’ support, as the crisis is expected to be long0lasting.
They saw that the northern part of Africa is expected to grow The report of the IMF was comprehensive of many
faster as a result of oil exports and vaccination plans. On the other economic issues relating to the middle east, north Africa,
hand, they also discussed the middle east case, which includes Pakistan, and Afghanistan. The goals of the report were to
Afghanistan and Pakistan. They focused on supporting the region have a comprehensive view on the effect of the pandemic on
to get out of this crisis. Egypt participated in the the economic plans dedicated for the MENA region and
intergovernmental G24 meetings, where the purpose was to how these countries handled their economic issues during
discuss the priorities for protecting economies from the pandemic the pandemic. The IMF had a considerably great role in
repercussions. The G24 called for the World Band and the IMF’s assisting these countries to endure the repercussions of the
support. The convention also emphasized the important of co- pandemic and reduce the negative effects of the latter as
operation to pass through the crisis. much as possible.

13