Macroeconomic Tendencies and Policy Options in the Arab Region

Abstract

This chapter sets out to survey the basic macroeconomic tendencies in the Arab region in the 1980s and early 1990s, in an attempt to identify the main constraints and the challenges lying ahead. Given the increasing vulnerability of the Arab economies to external shocks, new macro-policy options need to be explored and mapped out. In considering various future ‘policy options’, the Arab economies are facing the new challenges and dilemmas relating to the post-peace settlement regional economic arrangements, which involve many conflicting interests and dynamic trade-offs inherent in any new regional order. The main purpose of this chapter is to clarify and to sort out these issues, as seen from Arab perspectives.