Regional Economic Outlook, Middle East and Central Asia, October 2014

This issue discusses economic developments in the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan, and Pakistan (MENAP), which continue to refl ect the diversity of conditions prevailing across the region. Most high-income oil exporters, primarily in the GCC, continue to record steady growth and solid economic and fi nancial fundamentals, albeit with medium-term challenges that need to be addressed. In contrast, other countries?Iraq, Libya, and Syria?are mired in confl icts with not only humanitarian but also economic consequences. And yet other countries, mostly oil importers, are making continued but uneven progress in advancing their economic agendas, often in tandem with political transitions and amidst diffi cult social conditions. In most of these countries, without extensive economic and structural reforms, economic prospects for the medium term remain insuffi cient to reduce high unemployment and improve living standards.