Sustaining Gains in Poverty Reduction and Human Development in the Middle East and North Africa * By FARRUK IQBAL

Abstract

After establishing global development reports, most development institutions have encouraged their replication at regional levels. The UNDP Human Development Reports are even being produced at the country level. This book is better viewed as one such regional report, produced by the World Bank, as part of its Orientations in Development Series. It is primarily a compilation of poverty and human development data available to the World Bank for ten Arab countries rather than an analytical account of the causes of this state of affairs. Yet it is heavy on recommendations and is quick to assign the standard World Bank policies of liberalizaton and free market economics as a means to higher growth and expansion of human development in the region. The backbone of the book is its data. It draws upon poverty data in aggregate form on seven Middle Eastern and North African countries, namely, Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia, and Yemen. In addition, it draws upon data related to spending and outcomes for human development for an additional three countries: Lebanon, Libya, and Syria. These ten countries account for approximately 85 per cent of the total population of the region, which justifies the title of the book. However, this does not overcome the fact that important Arab states are excluded: Bahrain, Djibouti, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, Iraq and the West Bank/Gaza.