Africa, the Arab world and economic integration

Abstract

The present opening remarks presents under the Deputy Executive Secretary and Chief Economist by Dr. Abdalla Hamdok. Given the extensive nature of such a topic for interregional economic development, It focus on the perspectives of four specific areas relating to first, the regional implications of main developments observed in the global economy; second, Africa’s economic performance and prospects; third, intraregional economic integration in Africa; and, fourth, trade relations between the Arab and African economies. It turns out that the global economy remains trapped in a prolonged period of sluggish growth, expanding by merely 2.2 per cent in 2016, the slowest rate of growth observed since 2009. It is well worth noting that, although global economic recovery is expected to pick up slightly to 2.7 per cent in 2017 and 2.9 per cent in 2018.