Egypt has potential to grow, but sustainability depends on government: WB

Egypt, along with six other Middle Eastern countries, has potential to move to a higher economic growth path, said Lili Mottaghi, World Bank MENA economist and author of the report “Predictions, perceptions and economic reality”.

Mottaghi added, however, that the sustainability of growth will depend heavily on the economic policies that governments choose to implement.

It its report, the World Bank stated that it aims to look at “the actual growth performance of these countries [seven Middle Eastern countries] and highlights the limitations of forecasting in the wake of the 2011 uprisings, at the consequences of the growth slowdown, including unemployment, where perceptions may diverge from reality”.

Besides Egypt, the report tackled the economic situation in Tunisia, Yemen, Iran, Libya, Jordon and Lebanon, where the pace of the projected growth remains “far below” the rate of the rapid growth that was expected from the seven countries in the 2000s.