The World Bank Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region launched a new report today that looks into economic trends and prospects for the region. This is the third of an annual series of reports. The theme for this year's publication is labor markets and employment, a critical area for the MENA region as a result of its strong labor force growth and large share of young population. The report states that high economic growth has been accompanied by strong job creation and declining unemployment in recent years. But for this performance to be sustainable it needs to be supported by deeper structural reforms in countries of the Middle East and North Africa region. According to the report, the GDP growth reached 6.3% for the region in 2006, up from an average of 3.6% a year during the 1990s. This is the fourth year in a row of robust growth performance, driven by high oil prices, economic recovery in Europe and reforms that are broadly going in the right direction. As a result, many jobs have been generated, primarily by the private sector as public employment slows down. Countries in the MENA region need to remove the remaining barriers that hinder the business environment for the private sector in order to maintain growth, increase private investment and generate more jobs, said Daniela Gressani, World Bank Vice President for the MENA region. --more
