06.05.2011                      02.Ijar, 5771                      Tag 17 des Omer

Wirtschaft:

Arab spring economies likely to shrink this year

Five countries with severest unrest – Egypt, Syria, Yemen, Bahrain and Tunisia – to see GDP drop 2.3 percent, IIF figures show.

The five countries hit hardest by turmoil of the Arab spring will show a combined drop in economic output of about 2.3 percent this year as they struggle with unrest and its after effects, according to figures based on a forecast by the Institute for International Finance (IIF).
Egypt’s $218 billion economy will be responsible for most of the decline, with output dropping 2.5% this year after inflation. The smaller economies of Syria and Yemen will experience sharper contractions, with Syrian gross domestic product slumping by 3% and Yemen’s by 4%. Tunisian GDP will decline 1.5%. Only Bahrain will show any positive growth this year, with GDP expanding 2.9%, the IIF forecast. But that will be the slowest pace of growth for the island state since the 1990s, the IIF report released late Tuesday noted….