TY - BOOK ID - 137678619 TI - Middle East and North Africa Economic Monitor October 2015 : Inequality, Uprisings, and Conflict in the Arab World. AU - Lanchovichina, Elena. AU - Devarajan, Shantayanan. AU - Mottaghi, Lili. PY - 2015 PB - Washington, D.C. : The World Bank, DB - UniCat KW - Arab Countries KW - Arab spring KW - Bottom 40 percent KW - Conflict KW - Economic inequality KW - Grievances KW - Life satisfaction KW - Middle class KW - Pollution KW - Poverty KW - Shared prosperity KW - Subjective wellbeing KW - Transition countries KW - Uprisings KW - Water KW - Middle East KW - North Africa UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:137678619 AB - The economic outlook for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in 2015 is slightly more favorable than in 2013-14, when the region as a whole grew at 3 percent a year. The World Bank group's latest MENA Economic Monitor projects MENA's economic growth to average 5.2 percent in 2015 driven by domestic consumption, easing political tensions crowding-in investments in Egypt and Tunisia, and full resumption of oil production in Libya. However the violent conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Gaza, Yemen and Libya with their spillovers to Lebanon and Jordan could make MENA's economic prospects bleak. The report has a special focus on the corrosive nature of the large energy subsidies in MENA. The MENA region is currently experiencing growth below potential, high unemployment, urban air pollution and congestion, and severe water scarcity that is undermining agriculture. The report shows how energy subsidies have contributed to these development challenges. Reforming these subsidies, therefore, should be one of the highest priorities of policymakers. ER -