The World Bank and the African Development Bank (AdDB) Tuesday pledged 1 billion US dollar (ca. 5 milliarder DKR) to support Tunisia in its transition (demokratiske overgang) following its popular uprising.
Each bank will provide 500 million dollar in budget support to the North african country
-We are absolutely delighted in Tunisia that the African Development Bank and the World Bank are able to provide early signals of support, which I think are very important for the confidence of the country, World Bank head Robert Zoellick said.
AfDB President Donald Kaberuka welcomed the visit of his World Bank counterpart to AfDB’s temporary relocation agency office in the Tunisian capital. The joint operation is also a sign of stronger cooperation between the two multilateral banks.
Zoellick continued: – This is really the historic moment for Tunisia and the whole region. We want to lean forward and support a process that is not only important for the people of Tunisia, but we think also important for history.
Meanwhile, the Institute of International Finance (IIF) said Tuesday, that “the economic toll from the social unrest will translate into a collapse in growth this year for some Arab nations, with the output in Egypt, Tunisia and Syria forecast to dip between 1 percent and 3 percent”.
The real gross domestic product (GDP) of Egypt will decline 2,5 percent this year. The economic output of Syria and Tunisia will decrease 3 percent and 1,5 percent in 2011, respectively, according to the report entitled “The Arab World in Transition: Assessing the Economic Impact” – se http://www.iif.com/emr/resources+1200.php
Economists say that one of the highest priorities for authorities is to better target food and fuel subsidies in the near term.
But structurally, the governments need to encourage privatization programs of large public sectors, boost employment especially for youth, and fundamentally create better conditions for growth overall.
– They need to attend to the economic issues immediately and cannot simply address the political issues and ignore the economic issues, IIF Middle East Director George Abed said.
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