Jihad Azour

Director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department at the International Monetary Fund

Jihad Azour is the Director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department at the International Monetary Fund. Mr. Azour served as Minister of Finance, Lebanon in 2005-08. He held a wide range of positions in the private sector, including McKinsey and Booz and Co. where he was a Vice-President and Senior Executive Advisor. Prior to joining the IMF in March 2017, he was a Managing Partner at investment firm Inventis Partners. Mr. Azour holds a PhD in International Finance and a post-graduate degree in International Economics and Finance, both from the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris.

How the Middle East can prepare for the coming economic storm

How can policy-makers prepare for the challenging years ahead and protect their populations? This column, originally published in The National, concludes that a lot can be achieved if action is taken quickly.

Cooperation and recovery in the Middle East and Central Asia

Growth and development
February 09, 2021

The road to post-pandemic recovery for the Middle East and Central Asia will hinge on Covid-19 containment measures, access to and distribution of vaccines, the scope of policies to support growth, and measures to mitigate economic scarring from the pandemic. This column, originally published on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) blog, argues that cooperation will be critical to reducing divergent paths to recovery among countries in the region.

Confronting the Covid-19 pandemic in the Middle East and Central Asia

Countries of the Middle East and Central Asia region have been hit by two large and reinforcing shocks, resulting in significantly weaker growth projections in 2020. This column summarises the International Monetary Fund’s April 2020 Regional Economic Outlook on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the plunge in oil prices; the short- and longer-term policy priorities; and how the IMF is helping the region cope with the crisis.

COVID-19 pandemic and the Middle East and Central Asia

The number of confirmed COVID-19 pandemic in the Middle East and Central Asia began rising sharply in late February. At the same time, oil prices have been forced downwards owing to falling global demand (due to the pandemic) and rising supply (stemming from a price war between suppliers). With the intertwined shocks expected to deal a severe blow to economic activity in the region, this column originally published on the blog of the International Monetary Fund, outlines the channels of economic impact and the policy priorities.

The economies of the Middle East and North Africa are at a critical turning point. Global decarbonisation pressures, energy market volatility and technological transformation are increasingly challenging hydrocarbon-based growth models. This column argues that the green transition is not only an environmental necessity but also a strategic economic imperative.

Beyond job creation: how can Egypt’s gender gap in work be closed?

More than 2 million jobs are needed each year to absorb new entrants into Egypt’s labour market and raise the country’s employment rate. The job challenge is even more acute for women, whose labour force participation remains low despite recent gains in education. This column reports on the second Development Dialogue, an ERF–World Bank Group joint initiative, which brought together students, scholars, policy-makers and private sector leaders at the American University in Cairo to consider how the country’s gender gap in work can be closed.

The political economy of algorithms in the Middle East

The Middle East is entering a new political-economic era – one in which algorithms, data and artificial intelligence may become as strategically important as oil once was. Across the region, governments are investing heavily in digital infrastructure, smart governance and AI-driven economic transformation. This column outlines how AI and algorithmic governance are reshaping power, inequality and state capacity in the region.

Digitalisation, global value chains and regional integration in MENA & SSA

Participation in global value chains is vital for countries pursuing structural transformation and inclusive economic development. This column summarises new evidence on how much production processes have been globalised in Africa and the Middle East relative to other regions; whether this process has taken place with partners within or outside the region; and whether it has taken place more in manufacturing or services.

How trade policy can reduce MENA’s cereal import vulnerability

Heavy dependence on imported cereals, combined with climate change, water scarcity and geopolitical uncertainty, continues to threaten food resilience across MENA. This column explains how an inclusive trade policy can play a key role in making the region’s food security less vulnerable to shocks.

The Forum ERF

ERF