Survey of economic and social conditions in North Africa 2000

Abstract

The present Survey of the Economic and Social Conditions in North Africa, 2000 has taken some departure from the previous reports of some title. This departure has, mainly, been inspired by the fact that as the world entered the new century there were many changes in the structure of the world economy that had either been fully completed or were in the processes of becoming a new and irreversible reality. It was thus felt useful, in the report for the year 2000, to have greater focus on the structural analysis of the North African economies as opposed to merely reviewing the developments of the preceding short-term period. the present report attempts to sketch a picture of where, from a structural point of view, the North African economies were as the world entered the 21st Century. Such analysis is believed useful for at least two main reasons. Firstly, the countries in the sub-region can start to reflect on the challenges they face given, on the one hand, their respective internal socio-economic structure as it has evolved and as it is presently and, on the other hand, taking into account the major changes that have taken place in the global economic relationships and structures. A second reason is the facilitation of better situating the economic and social situation in the North African countries in the more global analyses that have been made by a number of international institutions.