Seminars, Webinars, & High-level Events
Joint IMF-CEF-AFESD Seminar on Tackling MENA Countries’ High Debt: Challenges and Policy Priorities
June 11, 2024
PRESS RELEASE
Tuesday June 11, 2024
IMF-Middle East Center for Economics and Finance (CEF) and Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD) co-organized High-Level Event on Tackling MENA Countries’ High Debt.
The IMF-Middle East Center for Economics and Finance (CEF), in partnership with the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD), co-organized a high-level event titled "Tackling MENA Countries’ High Debt: Challenges and Policy Priorities." This hybrid event convened experts from global and regional lending institutions, policymakers from debtor countries, and hybrid audience comprising representatives from the public and private sectors, civil society, international organizations, the press, and the diplomatic community. Mr. Merza Hasan, AFESD’s Senior Advisor, moderated the event.
Mr. Paulo Drummond, Director of the CEF, opened the seminar, emphasizing its objective to foster an open debate on the challenges faced by high-debt MENA countries and policy priorities to balance economic development and debt sustainability. The seminar included brief presentations on recent trends in sovereign debt in the MENA region (Mr. Adnan Mazarei, Peterson Institute), a developmental approach to easing the trade-off between fostering development and preserving debt sustainability (Mr. Mahmoud-Sami Nabi, AFESD), and key policy considerations for designing debt-reducing reforms (Mr. Chris Papageorgiou, IMF). A panel discussion featuring insights from the presenters, along with Messrs. Marouane El-Abassi (former Governor of the Central Bank of Tunisia) and Jian-Ye Wang (Professor at NYU Shanghai and Former Chief Economist of Exim Bank), addressed audience questions.
Mr. Drummond thanked AFESD for co-organizing this timely event with the CEF. He also thanked the presenters, panelists, Mr. Hasan, and audience members for their insightful and lively discussions.
For more details about the seminar, please refer to the following links:
