Entscheidungsträger im Maghreb bedienen seit Jahrzehnten Freund- und Feindbilder mit Blick auf zwei regionale Akteure, die in der MENA-Region am meisten umstritten sind: Israel und Iran. Offizielle Beziehungen zu Israel hat nur Marokko, zu Iran pflegen nur Algerien und Tunesien Beziehungen. Die...

For decades, Maghrebi decision-makers have instrumentalised friend and foe narratives with regard to Israel and Iran, two of the most controversial regional actors in the MENA region. Only Morocco has official relations with Israel, only Algeria and Tunisia with Iran. A systematic analysis of...

Migration is deeply ingrained in the lives and livelihoods of people in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The region witnesses three key migration patterns: labour migration, mixed migration, and displacement. Migration in the region in 2021-2022 was influenced by the pull of...

The Middle East and North Africa is the most water scarce region in the world. Although studies have explored the effect of extreme weather events on agriculture, much less is known about the effect on businesses. Using geocoded firm-level data from the World Bank's Enterprise Surveys across the...

This report contains the annual summary of the fire season of 2023 with official figures provided by 34 contributing countries for the number of fires, burnt areas and fire prevention efforts, and the analysis of fire danger and areas mapped in the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS).

This report contains the annual summary of the fire season of 2023 with official figures provided by 34 contributing countries for the number of fires, burnt areas and fire prevention efforts, and the analysis of fire danger and areas mapped in the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS).

This report contains the annual summary of the wildfire season of 2023 on the basis of data from the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS). It is published early in 2024 to provide an advance comprehensive analysis of the wildfire season 2023. The analysis and data in the report...

Entscheidungsträger im Maghreb bedienen seit Jahrzehnten Freund- und Feindbilder mit Blick auf zwei regionale Akteure, die in der MENA-Region am meisten umstritten sind: Israel und Iran. Offizielle Beziehungen zu Israel hat nur Marokko, zu Iran pflegen nur Algerien und Tunesien Beziehungen. Die...

For decades, Maghrebi decision-makers have instrumentalised friend and foe narratives with regard to Israel and Iran, two of the most controversial regional actors in the MENA region. Only Morocco has official relations with Israel, only Algeria and Tunisia with Iran. A systematic analysis of...

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop a new multidimensional financial inclusion index to measure the financial inclusion level for each of the 13 selected countries of the Middle East and North Africa region for the period 2004-2020. In addition, the comparative analysis approach...

This paper assesses the state and resilience of corporate and banking sectors in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) in a "higher-for-longer" interest rate environment using granular micro data to conduct the first cross-country corporate and banking sector stress tests for the MENA region....

Countries and international bodies are focusing on agriculture as a route to achieving sustainable food security. Hence, the aim of this study is to examine the determinants of food security. It investigates the effects of gross domestic product deflator (GDPD), rural population, arable area,...

Purpose: The relationship between financial inclusion and economic growth is an intriguing topic that is generating extensive attention among researchers and merits comprehensive investigation. This paper aims to empirically explore this relationship using panel data for 13 Middle Eastern and...

The rate of biodiversity loss and forest depletion has surged significantly, primarily driven by the substantial increase in worldwide environmental deterioration. This alarming development is nearing the critical temperature limit of 2 °C, necessitating increased scrutiny. This study therefore...

Middle East and North Africa (MENA) gas exporters are facing long-term market and regulatory challenges in Europe. The near three-year continuous decline in Europe’s gas demand since the beginning of the Ukraine crisis is a key challenge for these exporters who are concerned about whether this...

NATO’s 2023 summit in Vilnius was dominated by Russia’s war against Ukraine. The summit in Washington, D.C., in July 2024 will be influenced by an additional major conflict in NATO’s neighbourhood: the war in Gaza and the related heightened tensions in the Middle East. These have also...

We quantify in more detail than earlier studies the cost trade-offs of establishing import-export links between Europe and North Africa for two quintessential energy carriers needed for the energy transition: electricity and hydrogen. Using the TIAM-ECN model, we show under what assumptions...

This edition of the Macro Poverty Outlooks periodical contains country-by-country forecasts and overviews for GDP, fiscal, debt and poverty indicators for the developing countries of the Middle East and North Africa region. Macroeconomic indicators such as population, gross domestic product and...

L'économie mondiale est dans sa troisième année de ralentissement au milieu d'une baisse de l'inflation et des prix du pétrole. La région MENA a connu une croissance de 1.9% en 2023 et les prévisions de croissance sont de 3.9% en 2024. Et pour la première fois depuis la pandémie, les...

This paper quantifies the gains in gross domestic product per capita from closing gender employment gaps in the Middle East and North Africa, using three neoclassical growth models. The paper starts with baseline impacts from the Gender Employment Gap Index, which suggests that in the long run,...

The conflict in Gaza and Israel is yet another shock to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. It is causing immense human suffering and exacerbating an already challenging environment for neighboring economies and beyond. This Update covers economies in the MENA region and does not...

This study contributes to the literature on the relationship between trade, labour and environmental sustainability by providing empirical evidence at the firm level. For this purpose, it first explores whether exporting firms are more likely than non-exporting firms to adopt green measures....

This study analyzed the relationship between intellectual property protection (IPP) and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) economic policy optimization performance in the Middle East and North Africa MENA-China strategic geopolitical activism for regional collaboration. The study employed a...

This study conducts a well-to-wheel assessment of alternative fuel vehicles in the Maghreb region, aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector. The research employs international standards, ISO 14040–14043, to assess diesel, hybrid-electric, battery-electric, and...

With the exception of a few North African countries, personal income taxes (PITs) play little or no role in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), often yielding less than 2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in revenue. This paper examines how PITs have evolved in recent decades, and...

This paper aims to examine the challenges and advantages of parenting in the digital age in Africa, with a specific focus on North Africa. It analyzes advantages and challenges of technology, and the policies and programs that support bridging the digital gap. The study finds that the digital...

This paper provides a perspective on the political economy of crony capitalism and corruption in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Syria, and Yemen, severely affected by the Arap Spring, to propose that they triggered the uprisings. The crony capitalism in Egypt shows military dominance and its...

This paper investigates the impact of financial inclusion on sustainable firm growth in Northern African countries (Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia) during the period of 2007-2020. To this end, this study employs a dynamic panel threshold regression (DPTR) model. This model is a panel-data model...

The long-standing informality debate in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region has taken on a new urgency as it looks for a pathway to more socially inclusive growth that is less reliant on fossil fuels. This is occurring against a backdrop of subpar labor market outcomes, further growth...