Nader Habibi assesses the impact of the global economic crisis on Arab countries

He looks at the financial fallout in Crown Center's latest Middle East Brief

Nader Habibi

The Crown Center for Middle East Studies focuses on the international financial meltdown, and it's effect on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, in a new Middle East Brief authored by Nader Habibi, the Henry J. Leir Professor of the Economics of the Middle East.

Of the emerging-market regions, MENA is among the least integrated in the global financial market. Under normal circumstances, this would have protected the area when the global economy sank into a severe financial crisis. In this case, however, MENA states have been affected by global economic conditions through fluctuations in the oil market, strong trade and investment relations with Europe, and large portfolios of financial and equity investments in advanced economies. All these factors increased the MENA economies’ vulnerability to the global economic downturn.

This Middle East Brief explores how Arab countries have been affected by the global economic crisis that began in the summer of 2008 and traces the responses of the MENA governments to this crisis.

Click here to download a PDF of Habibi's Middle East Brief.

The full Middle East Brief Series can be accessed on the Crown Center's Web site.