In Turkey, as in other countries, refugees are often seen as an unmitigated burden, taking jobs from locals, straining public resources, and stoking fears of rising crime and terrorism. Clearly there are significant costs and risks shouldered by host countries, but there is another side to the story—the contributions made by refugees as they bring...

The good news is that when it comes to reforms that add to women's economic opportunities and reduce the number of laws restricting their roles, countries around the world are making improvements every year. According to the latest World Bank Women Business and the Law Report 2016, in the past two years, some 65 economies have passed 94 reforms...

Almost five years since the Syrian war broke out and created the largest refugees crisis since World War II. Syria’s neighbouring countries are facing an unprecedented and protracted refugee crisis. How could the international community help hosting countries beyond emergency aid? What could the mid-term solution be for this unprecedented...

The World Bank group, the United Nations, and the Islamic Development Bank Group launched a new joint initiative to scale-up financing in the Middle East and North Africa to help countries hosting significant refugee populations, countries impacted by conflict, as well as countries that have significant investment needs to achieve economic...

The Center for Mediterranean Integration, the World Bank Group and the United Nations with the support of the French Development Agency Representatives organized a cross-regional event on the analytical findings, and policy implications, of the World Bank/UNHCR study “The Welfare of Syrian Refugees: Evidence from Jordan and Lebanon”. Sarah Belhadi...

Dr Mukhallad Omari, Director of Policy Division, Ministry of International Planning and Cooperation, Jordan explains the current state of the refugee crisis and its impact on Jordan. Interview conducted by Wahiba Khaddash for Monte Carlo Doualiya in Arabic. 

Key Messages: English / French / Arabic.   The World Bank’s latest Quarterly Economic Brief for MENA has revised estimates of economic growth in MENA, at 2.6 percent in 2015, falling short of expectations from the 2.8 percent predicted in October. Being constrained by war, terrorism and to some extent cheap oil, short term growth...

Despite their geographical and cultural proximity, Europe and Southern and Eastern Mediterranean Countries (SEMC) have still not developed a real common economic strategy, as Japan managed to do in the 1960s in Asia, or Germany in the 1990s with Central and Eastern European countries. Yet each region could draw solutions from the other’s territory...

The digital economy now permeates countless aspects of the world economy, impacting sectors as varied as banking, retail, energy, transportation, education, publishing, media or health. Information and Communication Technologies are transforming the ways social interactions and personal relationships are conducted, with fixed, mobile and broadcast...

May 19-21, 2015, Barcelona, Spain    The CMI Manager joined an expert panel at the High-Level Conference organized by the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) on “Fostering Women’s Participation in Economic Life.” He presented an overview of women’s current situation in MENA and its implications on the economic development of the region and...