A Comparative Analysis of Subsidy Reforms in the Middle East and North Africa Region

A Comparative Analysis of Subsidy Reforms in the Middle East and North Africa Region
Author: Abdelkrim Araar
Publisher:
Total Pages: 34
Release: 2016
Genre: Energy industries
ISBN:

The paper compares the distribution of energy and food subsidies across households and the impact of subsidy reforms on household welfare in the Middle East and North Africa region. The analysis uses a unified model and harmonized household data. The results show that the distribution of subsidies and the welfare effects of subsidy reforms are quite diverse across countries and products. Energy subsidies tend to be pro-rich in terms of absolute amounts, but tend to be more important for the poor in terms of expenditure shares. Instead, food subsidies are larger for the poor in absolute and relative terms. These findings do not apply everywhere, and the scale of these phenomena are different across countries and products. The welfare effect of a 30 percent reduction in subsidies can be important, especially considering the cumulated effect across products, but the cost of compensating the loss in welfare for the poor is generally low compared with the budget benefits of decreasing subsidies.

Subsidy Reform in the Middle East and North Africa

Subsidy Reform in the Middle East and North Africa
Author: Mr.Carlo A Sdralevich
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 130
Release: 2014-07-09
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1498350437

In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries price subsidies are common, especially on food and fuels. However, these are neither well targeted nor cost effective as a social protection tool, often benefiting mainly the better off instead of the poor and vulnerable. This paper explores the challenges of replacing generalized price subsidies with more equitable social safety net instruments, including the short-term inflationary effects, and describes the features of successful subsidy reforms.

Challenges of Growth and Globalization in the Middle East and North Africa

Challenges of Growth and Globalization in the Middle East and North Africa
Author: Mr.Hamid R Davoodi
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 44
Release: 2003-09-05
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9781589062290

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is an economically diverse region. Despite undertaking economic reforms in many countries, and having considerable success in avoiding crises and achieving macroeconomic stability, the region’s economic performance in the past 30 years has been below potential. This paper takes stock of the region’s relatively weak performance, explores the reasons for this out come, and proposes an agenda for urgent reforms.

State-Owned Enterprises in Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia: Size, Costs, and Challenges

State-Owned Enterprises in Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia: Size, Costs, and Challenges
Author: Mr. Ernesto Ramirez Rigo
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 153
Release: 2021-09-20
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1513594087

Prior to the COVID-19 shock, the key challenge facing policymakers in the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia region was how to generate strong, sustainable, job-rich, inclusive growth. Post-COVID-19, this challenge has only grown given the additional reduction in fiscal space due to the crisis and the increased need to support the recovery. The sizable state-owned enterprise (SOE) footprint in the region, together with its cost to the government, call for revisiting the SOE sector to help open fiscal space and look for growth opportunities.

The Quest for Subsidy Reforms in the Middle East and North Africa Region

The Quest for Subsidy Reforms in the Middle East and North Africa Region
Author: Paolo Verme
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 356
Release: 2017-04-21
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 3319529269

This book is an analysis of energy and food subsidies in the MENA region between 2010 and 2014. Using the World Bank’s proprietary SUBSIM model, the book studies the distribution of subsidies and the simulation of subsidy reforms across eight countries within in a partial equilibrium framework. The distributional analysis of subsidies provides information on who benefits from existing subsidies, while the simulations of subsidy reforms provide information on the outcomes of the reforms in terms of government budget, household welfare, poverty, inequality, and the trade-offs between these outcomes. This focus provides governments with the essential information they need to make decisions on subsidy reforms and consumers with a clear sense of which programs and reforms are successful. The book highlights the historical roots of subsidies, the real trigger of subsidy reforms, and the complexity of subsidy reforms. It discusses the pros and cons of radical and gradualist approaches to reforms, the use of compensation mechanisms and their implications, the advantages and disadvantages of public information campaigns, the political economy of targeting different economic populations, the political timing of reforms, and whether, overall, the reforms observed in the MENA region have been successful. The first book on subsidies in the MENA region that is based on primary micro data, this book is useful for researchers and graduate students studying political economy and working with microsimulation modelling instruments as well as government officials engaged in subsidies reforms, research institutes and private consulting groups advising governments on subsidy reforms.

Energy Subsidy Reform

Energy Subsidy Reform
Author: Mr.Benedict J. Clements
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 390
Release: 2013-09-13
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1484339169

Energy subsidies are aimed at protecting consumers, however, subsidies aggravate fiscal imbalances, crowd out priority public spending, and depress private investment, including in the energy sector. This book provides the most comprehensive estimates of energy subsidies currently available for 176 countries and an analysis of “how to do” energy subsidy reform, drawing on insights from 22 country case studies undertaken by the IMF staff and analyses carried out by other institutions.

Doing Business 2020

Doing Business 2020
Author: World Bank
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2019-11-21
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1464814414

Seventeen in a series of annual reports comparing business regulation in 190 economies, Doing Business 2020 measures aspects of regulation affecting 10 areas of everyday business activity.

Sustaining Gains in Poverty Reduction and Human Development in the Middle East and North Africa

Sustaining Gains in Poverty Reduction and Human Development in the Middle East and North Africa
Author: Farrukh Iqbal
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 136
Release: 2006
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0821365282

This book reviews the experience of the MENA region with poverty and human development since the mid-1980s. It finds that poverty rates did not decline by much during this period while health and education indicators improved substantially. The stagnation of poverty rates is ascribed to the stagnation of the region's economies during this period while the improvement in human indicators is likely due to several factors including improvement in the delivery of public health and education services.