The Need For Economic Reform In The Middle East

A neat article in The Daily Star on the reasons behind the slow pace of economic reforms in arab and muslim countries. The newspaper states that

If there is a single person who can speak with credible authority on the many different perspective on economic growth and business development in the Middle East region - government policies, private sector policies, and activist intervention by international organizations - it is probably Mustafa Nabli.

Dr.Nabli who is by the way tunisian, indicates that

"The problem in the Arab world is that there is a private sector but it reflects the old model in which the private firms were dependent on the state and therefore has been resistant to change. I also find in almost all countries of the region that there is a very uneasy relationship between the private sector and their governments. The expectations of one from the other do not seem to be consistent, which may be a root cause of the lack of dynamism of the private sector in the region."