Resources

It analyses the challenges and opportunities facing young enterprises and their owners throughout the MENA region. It provides a balanced review of the arguments for and against an active government policy supporting high growth enterprises, drawing on evidence and...Read More

Islamic finance has been growing rapidly in recent years. Motivated by a heightened interest in financial instruments that emphasize risk sharing, it has been attracting greater attention in the wake of the recent financial crisis. This class of instru- ments appears...Read More

This report provides a comprehensive view of the performance of the microfi- nance sector in the Arab region, beginning with a 2006-2008 study of scale and out- reach trends with a sample of 35 micro- finance institutions (MFIs) and a special focus on the microfinance...Read More

This paper assesses the status of credit reporting systems in MENA. It shows that, while the quality of credit reporting has improved in recent years, due largely to the introduction of new credit bureaus in some countries, much remains to be done, both in terms of...Read More

This paper studies the causes of the low development of the insurance sector in the Middle East and North African (MENA) region, particularly for long term insurance. The paper shows that life and non-life premiums, as well as assets, are very low relative to expected...Read More

Privately-managed funds that invest in a wide variety of asset classes are beginning to develop in MENA countries.  In terms of assets under management/GDP, however, investment funds in MENA countries are still small relative to those in countries with similar economic...Read More

At their September 2009 meeting in Pittsburgh, the G-20 Leaders announced the creation of the Financial Inclusion Experts Group (FIEG), tasked with: (i) supporting innovative modes of fi nancial service delivery capable of reaching the poor; and (ii) scaling up models...Read More

The November  2013 Regional Economic Outlook: Middle East and Central Asia (REO), covering countries in the Middle East and Central Asia Department (MCD) of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), provides a broad overview of recent economic developments in 2013 and...Read More

The October 2011 Regional Economic Outlook: Middle East and Central Asia (REO), covering countries in the Middle East and Central Asia Department (MCD) of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), provides a broad overview of recent economic developments in 2011 and...Read More

Financial Infrastructure discusses the importance of credit bureaus, collat- eral frameworks, and payment, remit- tance, and securities settlement systems for financial intermediation. However, this report does not touch on all ele- ments of financial infrastructure....Read More