The World Bank warned in a report Friday that the public debt Middle East and North African countries will inflate and account for 54 percent of their GDP this year, compared to 46 percent in 2019, due to expenditures related to COVID-19. The World Bank said that countries in the Middle East and North Africa region witnessed a "significant increase in their debts" due to their being forced to "borrow heavily" to finance "basic care costs and social protection measures." The World Bank estimates the cumulative decline in activity in the region by the end of 2021 at $227 billion. Despite the inflation of debts, the World Bank still recommends countries to spend to address the health crisis, stressing that "continuing spending and continuing to borrow will remain an urgent necessity at the present time." The World Bank expects that it will be necessary to consider how to "reduce the costs of excessive indebtedness in the medium term," calling on countries to be transparent in their spending and borrowing in relation to COVID-19.

Source: The North Africa Journal April 03, 2021 05:48 UTC