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Oil economies. Ten MENA countries are oil-exporting countries: Algeria,
Bahrain, The Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and
the United Arab Emirates. While other countries (such as Egypt, Syria, and the Republic of
Yemen) also export oil, this sector is less important at this time.
Economic diversification. Among the non-oil exporters, four countries (Israel,
Morocco, Syria, and Tunisia) have a fairly diversified economic and export base. The
economies of four other countries (Djibouti, Mauritania, Somalia, and Sudan) are based on
agriculture or minerals. The remaining countries have a large service sector and are exporters
of services.
Labor flows. Seven countries (Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Sudan,
Tunisia, and the Republic of Yemen) export labor in a significant manner and receive large
inflows of remittances as a source of foreign exchange earnings. Israel and the countries of
the Cooperation Council of the Arab States of the Gulf (or GCC, comprising Bahrain,
Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates) rely relatively heavily on
imported labor.
Per capita income. According to World Bank classifications, five countries
(Egypt, Mauritania, Somalia, Sudan, and the Republic of Yemen) are low-income countries.
Thirteen countries (Algeria, Bahrain, Djibouti, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq, Jordan,
Lebanon, Libya, Syria, Morocco, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Tunisia) are middle-income
countries, while Israel, Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates are classified as
high-income countries.
Financial flows. Six countries (Kuwait, Libya, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and
the United Arab Emirates) are net creditor countries.
Geographic regions. The Maghreb region is usually defined as covering
Algeria, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia. The Mashreq region covers Egypt, Israel, Jordan,
Lebanon, Syria, and West Bank/Gaza. Of the remaining countries, six are members of the
GCC.
Arab economies. Members of the Arab League are Algeria, Bahrain, Djibouti,
Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar,
Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, and the Republic of
Yemen. |
