Middle East & Africa

The number of children that Middle Eastern women want to have is shrinking dramatically. While a woman in Iran in the 1970's gave birth to seven offspring on an average, her daughter barely wants two children. The phenomenal decline in fertility rates in the region is projected to result in an accelerated fall in population growth during the course of the century.
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As noted by a Reuters report, the MEA region's outlook has been clouded by high oil prices, the need for policy reforms, and political risks. According to the IMF's Regional Economic Outlook report, economies of oil-exporting nations are expected grow at a faster pace compared to economies of oil-importing nations.
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South Africa ^Updated
South Africa officially fell into recession for the first time in 17 years in May 2009, cutting short its decade long period of expansion. However, with the help of a string of instantaneous measures, South Africa managed to pull out of the recession as soon as November 2009, when it recorded a tiny but significant growth of 0.9% in the third quarter.
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Morocco ^Updated
When the global financial crisis hit the world, Morocco was remarkably resilient. The country's prudence in the past came to the rescue. Strong macroeconomic policies, limited exposure to foreign financial markets, stringent banking supervision and sufficient international reserves ensured that Morocco's problems were temporary.
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Israel ^Updated
Now that the worst of the economic fallout from the global financial crisis is in the past, Israel can focus on administering macroeconomic policies that will sustain the country's growth, which bounded up by 4.4% in the fourth quarter of 2009, its fastest rate in two years.
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Egypt ^Updated
A stable political environment, prudent policies reinforced since 2004, unrelenting domestic demand and limited exposure to world markets formed a sound economic foundation to insulate Egypt from the financial crisis.
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