Preface

This report was prepared by Cyrus Sassanpour, Deputy Division Chief, Middle Eastern Department of the IMF, for the Gulf Economic Forum Annual Conference in Bahrain, April 8-10, 1996. The author is indebted to Stanley Fischer, Mohamed A. El-Erian, and Zubair Iqbal for valuable comments; to Ilse-Marie Fayad and Peter Kunzel for efficient research assistance; and to Martha Bonilla for editing the manuscript. The views expressed in the paper are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the IMF.