Resources

This paper assesses the mortgage and housing finance market in various MENA countries, in an attempt to identify the main impediments. The approach followed involves critical analyses through reviewing the economic and political conditions for a successful mortgage...Read More

This report caters to investors looking for investment opportunities in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Takaful (Islamic Insurance) industry. The focus of the report is on opportunities and challenges for growth of the industry, industry trends, financial...Read More

This fourth edition of Entrepreneurship at a Glance presents an original collection of indicators for measuring the state of entrepreneurship and its determinants, produced by the OECD-Eurostat Entrepreneurship Indicators Programme. The 2014 edition contains new...Read More

This paper is mainly focused on contractual savings institutions, namely pension funds and life insurance companies, that are by far the most important NBFIs.  However, before discussing their role and the determinants of their growth, the paper offers a brief review...Read More

Using bank-level data, we apply the Panzar and Rosse (1987) methodology to estimate the extent to which changes in input prices are reflected in revenues earned by specific banks in 50 countries' banking systems. We then relate this competitiveness measure to...Read More

For the first time in the history of the United Nations, urban data is reported here at slum and non-slumlevels, going far beyond the traditional urban- rural dichotomy. UN-HABITAT’s intra-urban data analysis – involving disaggregated data for more than 200 cities...Read More

This paper provides a comparative summary of the payout phase of insolvency systems in the MENA Region. Countries in the region generally have weaker restructuring and liquidation systems than those in most other regions. The paper summarizes many of the weaknesses...Read More

This publication is the first ever to comprehensively analyze urbanization processes in the Arab States through the review of its four sub-regions: the Maghreb, the Mashreq, the Gulf Cooperation Council countries and the least-developed Arab countries of the Southern...Read More

This paper analyzes foreign aid with regards to Arab countries, considering them both as donors and recipients. Given that Arab assistance is channeled through Arab Development Funds (ADFs), the paper describes the main features of such Funds, the resources they have...Read More

The objective of this study is to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues in the Arab region.  It comes at a critical time, when several Arab countries are experiencing significant instability, and as the timeframe for the Millennium Development Goals...Read More