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Showing posts for "Middle East and North Africa"

Sports, Gender Equality, and Development

by Terra Lawson-Remer
Saudi Arabia's Jeddah United (in white) shake hands with Jordan's Al Reyadeh before their friendly basketball game in Amman on April 21, 2009 (Ali Jarekji/Courtesy Reuters). Saudi Arabia's Jeddah United (in white) shake hands with Jordan's Al Reyadeh before their friendly basketball game in Amman on April 21, 2009 (Ali Jarekji/Courtesy Reuters).

As my colleague Isobel Coleman wrote last week, Saudi Arabia has just leaped a small hurdle towards gender equality: announcing last week that it will allow female athletics in private schools. Until now girls have been prohibited from playing sports as a part of formal education. The move comes on the heels of last year’s decision to allow two Saudi women to compete in the Olympics for the first time in the country’s history.

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New From CFR: Isobel Coleman on Aid to Egypt

by Isobel Coleman
A farmer holds out grains of wheat in his hands during a harvest on a field in the El-Menoufia governorate, about 9.94 km (58 miles) north of Cairo, Egypt, April 23, 2013 (Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Courtesy Reuters). A farmer holds out grains of wheat in his hands during a harvest on a field in the El-Menoufia governorate, about 9.94 km (58 miles) north of Cairo, Egypt, April 23, 2013 (Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Courtesy Reuters).

On the new Ask CFR Experts feature today, I consider the question of whether the United States should continue economic aid to Egypt. “The answer,” I write, “is a resounding yes.” As I add, however: Read more »

Governance and Growth in the Arab Transitions

by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon
A man waits for tourists to visit his souvenir shop in Carthage, near Tunis, Tunisia February 10, 2013 (Zoubeir Souissi/Courtesy Reuters). A man waits for tourists to visit his souvenir shop in Carthage, near Tunis, Tunisia on February 10, 2013 (Zoubeir Souissi/Courtesy Reuters).

Examining the economic fallout of the Arab uprisings is critical as societies struggle to move past the upheaval and fight for a measure of stability and security. Unemployment rates in the region have climbed in the last two years: Egypt’s official unemployment rate is now 13 percent, with nearly 80 percent of the jobless holding either high school or university degrees. Unofficial figures put that rate much higher. Growth barely hit two percent in 2012, well under half its rate before the uprisings. In Tunisia growth is declining while frustration and hopelessness grow. Official unemployment shows the jobless rate reached 19 percent in May 2012, up six points in two years. As a Brookings Institution paper noted, “youth, between 15 and 30 years old, make about one-third of the labor force and three-quarters of the unemployed.” Their unemployment rate tops 30 percent.

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Is the IMF Fighting for Social Justice in Egypt?

by Terra Lawson-Remer
An Egyptian protester holds a loaf of state subsidized bread during a demonstration against the International Monetary Fund (IMF) delegation visit, in front of the General-Prosecutor's office in Cairo, April 3, 2013 (Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Courtesy Reuters). An Egyptian protester holds a loaf of state subsidized bread during a demonstration against the International Monetary Fund (IMF) delegation visit, in front of the General-Prosecutor's office in Cairo, April 3, 2013 (Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Courtesy Reuters).

This week a team from the International Monetary Fund is in Cairo yet again, attempting to reach agreement with the Egyptian government on a $4.8 billion loan to plug Egypt’s increasingly serious external financing gap and budget deficit. Egypt’s foreign currency reserves—in precipitous decline as the Central Bank continues to prop up the exchange rate in efforts to avoid skyrocketing costs for wheat and other staple imports—have dropped from more than $36 billion in early 2011 to less than $14 billion at the end of March.  Egypt’s budget deficit now stands at nearly 11 percent of GDP.

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New From CFR: Ban Ki-moon’s Views and the G-20′s Role

by Development Channel Staff

This week CFR hosted two events on issues relevant to the global development landscape. On Monday, UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon delivered the Sorensen Distinguished Lecture on the United Nations (available in video, audio, and transcript form). He focused in part on the struggle to build inclusive democracy in Syria and across the Middle East. As he argued: Read more »