Distributional Impacts of COVID-19 in the Middle East and North Africa Region

COVID-19 is one of multiple crises to have hit the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in the decade following the Arab Spring. War, oil price declines, economic slowdowns and now a pandemic are tearing at the social fabric of a region characterized by high rates of unemployment, high levels...

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Main Authors:	Hoogeveen, Johannes G., Lopez-Acevedo, Gladys
Format:	Book
Published:	Washington, DC: World Bank 2021
Subjects:	POVERTY UNEMPLOYMENT WELFARE INCOME INEQUALITY CORONAVIRUS COVID-19 PANDEMIC IMPACT LABOR MARKET HOUSEHOLD SURVEY HEALTH ECONOMIC GROWTH FISCAL SUPPORT
Online Access:	https://documents.worldbank.org/en/publication/documents-reports/documentdetail/758391638248161917/distributional-impacts-of-covid-19-in-the-middle-east-and-north-africa-region http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36618

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spelling	okr-10986-366182021-12-18T05:10:37Z Distributional Impacts of COVID-19 in the Middle East and North Africa Region Hoogeveen, Johannes G. Lopez-Acevedo, Gladys Hoogeveen, Johannes G. Lopez-Acevedo, Gladys POVERTY UNEMPLOYMENT WELFARE INCOME INEQUALITY CORONAVIRUS COVID-19 PANDEMIC IMPACT LABOR MARKET HOUSEHOLD SURVEY HEALTH ECONOMIC GROWTH FISCAL SUPPORT COVID-19 is one of multiple crises to have hit the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in the decade following the Arab Spring. War, oil price declines, economic slowdowns and now a pandemic are tearing at the social fabric of a region characterized by high rates of unemployment, high levels of informality and low annual economic growth. The economic costs of the pandemic are estimated at about $227 billion, and fiscal support packages across MENA are averaging 2.7 percent of GDP, putting pressure on already weak fiscal balances and making a quick recovery challenging. Pre-pandemic MENA was the only region in the world experiencing increases in poverty and declines in life satisfaction. This Report investigates how COVID-19 changed the welfare of individuals and households in the region. It does so by relying on phone surveys implemented across the region and complements these with micro-simulation exercises to assess the impact of COVID-19 on jobs, income, poverty and inequality. The two approaches perform a complementary task by corroborating each other’s results, thereby making the findings more robust and richer. This Report’s results show that in the short run, poverty rates in MENA will increase significantly, and that inequality will widen. A group of “new poor” is likely to emerge that may have difficulty to recover from the economic consequences of the pandemic. The Report adds value by analyzing newly gathered primary data, along with projections based on newly modelled micro-macro simulations and by identifying key issues that policy makers should focus on to enable a quick, inclusive and sustained economic recovery. 2021-11-22T16:41:47Z 2021-11-22T16:41:47Z 2021-11-22 Book https://documents.worldbank.org/en/publication/documents-reports/documentdetail/758391638248161917/distributional-impacts-of-covid-19-in-the-middle-east-and-north-africa-region 978-1-4648-1776-2 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36618 MENA Development Report; CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank Washington, DC: World Bank Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Publication Middle East and North Africa Middle East North Africa
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
topic	POVERTY UNEMPLOYMENT WELFARE INCOME INEQUALITY CORONAVIRUS COVID-19 PANDEMIC IMPACT LABOR MARKET HOUSEHOLD SURVEY HEALTH ECONOMIC GROWTH FISCAL SUPPORT
spellingShingle	POVERTY UNEMPLOYMENT WELFARE INCOME INEQUALITY CORONAVIRUS COVID-19 PANDEMIC IMPACT LABOR MARKET HOUSEHOLD SURVEY HEALTH ECONOMIC GROWTH FISCAL SUPPORT Hoogeveen, Johannes G. Lopez-Acevedo, Gladys Distributional Impacts of COVID-19 in the Middle East and North Africa Region
geographic_facet	Middle East and North Africa Middle East North Africa
relation	MENA Development Report;
description	COVID-19 is one of multiple crises to have hit the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in the decade following the Arab Spring. War, oil price declines, economic slowdowns and now a pandemic are tearing at the social fabric of a region characterized by high rates of unemployment, high levels of informality and low annual economic growth. The economic costs of the pandemic are estimated at about $227 billion, and fiscal support packages across MENA are averaging 2.7 percent of GDP, putting pressure on already weak fiscal balances and making a quick recovery challenging. Pre-pandemic MENA was the only region in the world experiencing increases in poverty and declines in life satisfaction. This Report investigates how COVID-19 changed the welfare of individuals and households in the region. It does so by relying on phone surveys implemented across the region and complements these with micro-simulation exercises to assess the impact of COVID-19 on jobs, income, poverty and inequality. The two approaches perform a complementary task by corroborating each other’s results, thereby making the findings more robust and richer. This Report’s results show that in the short run, poverty rates in MENA will increase significantly, and that inequality will widen. A group of “new poor” is likely to emerge that may have difficulty to recover from the economic consequences of the pandemic. The Report adds value by analyzing newly gathered primary data, along with projections based on newly modelled micro-macro simulations and by identifying key issues that policy makers should focus on to enable a quick, inclusive and sustained economic recovery.
author2	Hoogeveen, Johannes G.
author_facet	Hoogeveen, Johannes G. Hoogeveen, Johannes G. Lopez-Acevedo, Gladys
format	Book
author	Hoogeveen, Johannes G. Lopez-Acevedo, Gladys
author_sort	Hoogeveen, Johannes G.
title	Distributional Impacts of COVID-19 in the Middle East and North Africa Region
title_short	Distributional Impacts of COVID-19 in the Middle East and North Africa Region
title_full	Distributional Impacts of COVID-19 in the Middle East and North Africa Region
title_fullStr	Distributional Impacts of COVID-19 in the Middle East and North Africa Region
title_full_unstemmed	Distributional Impacts of COVID-19 in the Middle East and North Africa Region
title_sort	distributional impacts of covid-19 in the middle east and north africa region
publisher	Washington, DC: World Bank
publishDate	2021
url	https://documents.worldbank.org/en/publication/documents-reports/documentdetail/758391638248161917/distributional-impacts-of-covid-19-in-the-middle-east-and-north-africa-region http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36618
_version_	1764485620898463744

Distributional Impacts of COVID-19 in the Middle East and North Africa Region

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