The study commissioned by Western Union (WU) -- the world´s leading money remitter -- says the region is still seeing moderate growth rate despite political uprisings and civil unrest. [break]
“We expect opportunities for global workers to remain strong with the remittance flows from host to home countries,” said Jean-Claude Farah, Western Union´s Senior Vice-president for the Middle East and Africa.
“The Asia Pacific region has been a significant source of labour for Gulf countries led by India, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Thailand and Nepal. This study should instill greater confidence among global workers seeking employment in these countries”, said Drina Yue, managing director and senior vice president of Western Union, Asia Pacific.
The study "The Economic Impact of the Uprisings in the MENA Region" also states that economic forecasts for Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are much better than those for the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region as a whole.
The GCC block includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The study´s lead author Dr Ahmed Farouk Ghoneim, who is also the professor of Economics at Cairo University said that the real GDP growth in GCC was expected to remain strong despite short-term disturbances.
Ghoneim also noted that the region´s countries have limited exposure to international financial crisis. “In relative terms, the financial crisis and oil and food price increases have had only mild effects on MENA economies, owing to their limited integration into the world economy”, added Ghoneim.
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