Beyond the Arab awakening: policies and investments for poverty reduction and food security

It is argued that the Arab World has awakened, and it is time to take the next steps. This publication aims to inform and stimulate the debate on key policy priorities for poverty reduction and food security in light of the Arab Awakening.

The report demonstrates the following findings:

• poverty and income inequality in the Arab world are likely higher than official numbers have long suggested
• unlike in the rest of the world, manufacturing- and service sector–led growth, rather than agriculture-led growth, is most pro-poor in Arab countries
• in addition, high levels of public spending in the Arab world do not do as much to stimulate growth as in other world regions, particularly in the case of education
  

The authors introduce a new welfare measure reflecting food insecurity risks at both national and household levels to classify Arab countries into five risk groups. In this context, the paper states that Algeria, Libya and Tunisia exhibit moderate food-insecurity risk, whereas all other countries, excluding Gulf states, experience serious, alarming, or extremely alarming levels of food-insecurity risk.

Three key policy recommendations emerge from this report:

• improve data and capacity as the basis for evidence-based decision-making
• foster growth that enhances food security at national and household levels, yet different types of growth are likely to be more conducive to enhancing food security at macro or household levels or both
• significantly enhance the efficiency, and retool the allocation of public spending; as a key element of increasing efficiency, public services need to be revamped

More generally, the paper announces that the region urgently needs national dialogues about societies’ joint vision and economic development strategies. Successful design and implementation of these strategies will require visionary leadership as well as sound laws and institutions.