ESCWA Meeting to Promote Statistical Capacities in the Region The Third Session of ESCWA Statistical Committee was held in March 1999 at ESCWA Headquarters at the UN House, Beirut. The three day session, which was opened by the Lebanese Prime Minister Dr. Salem El-Hoss and chaired by the Minister of Trade and Economy, focused on strengthening co-ordination and cooperation of various statistical activities and programmes among ESCWA Member States on one hand and between these states and the ESCWA Secretariat on the other. Participants exchanged statistical experiences and opinions in order to contribute to the improvement and developments of statistical work in the ESCWA region.
The Committee took up a number of studies and statistical issues of special importance to the region. These included the implementation of the 1993 System of National Accounts in the ESCWA region, and a study on the Purchasing Power Parity: Volume and Price Level Comparisons of Economic Aggregates of the ESCWA region. The Committee also discussed a report on the Expert Group Meeting on the Statistical Implications of the United Nations Major Conferences on Social Statistics. Participants reviewed a report on the General Data Dissemination System adopted by the International Monetary Fund, and other statistical technical reports.
Members of the Statistical Committee who are heads of central statistical organizations of ESCWA Member States or their representatives participated in the meeting along with observers freom several Arab regional and international organizations and agencies.
ESCWA/UNCTAD Conference on Lebanon’s Accession to the World Trade Organization Under the patronage of Nasser Saidi, Minister of Economics, Trade and Industry, ESCWA and UNCTAD organized a conference on Lebanon’s Accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), on 7 May 1999 at the UN house, Beirut. The one-day conference brought together experts from ESCWA, WTO and UNCTAD as well as Lebanese officials representing the Ministries of Economy, trade, industry, labor, Justice, Agriculture along with the Chambers of Commerce and Industry in addition to the private sector community. The General Council Meeting of the World Trade Organization had accepted Lebanon’s application for the accession in April 1999. Accordingly, a Working Group on the Negotiations for Accession was established with the mandate of conducting the necessary actions and procedures that should lead to the full-fledged membership of Lebanon. From the ESCWA region, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have already joined WTO. Oman and Saudi Arabia are expected to join shortly, while Lebanon and Yemen have only recently submitted membership applications. |
ESCWA Organizes Intergovernmental Meeting on Trade Liberalization and Economic Globalization
ESCWA, with the cooperation of UNDP and the UAE Ministry of Economy and Commerce organized the First Session of a Technical Committee on Liberalization of Foreign Trade and Economic Globalization in the countries of the ESCWA Region, on 15 May 1999 at Abu Dhabi.
Fahem Ben Sultan Al Qassimi, UAE Minister of Economy and Commerce opened the meeting. The meeting provided the countries of the region a forum to discuss some issues related to trade liberalization and economic globalization. The ESCWA activities concerning the international trade and economic globalization were also discussed. The meeting also dealt with the agreements of the World Trade ,Organization (WTO), and the new negotiations about issues, such as agricultural trade, trade in services, trade in investment, trade and competition, and electronic commerce.
ESCWA’s Economic and Social Survey Assesses Region’s Unemployment Problem
On the eve of the Twentieth Ministerial Session of the Commission, held in Beirut in May 1999, ESCWA published its 1997-1998 Survey of the Economic, and Social Developments the region. Among other things, the survey made an analysis of the regions problem of unemployment. Following is a summary of its assessment:
The problem of unemployment remained a formidable challenge in 1997 for many of the countries in the ESCWA region, in particular those countries with more diversified economies. This problem has been compounded over the years by the region’s relatively high population growth and low economic growth rates and by overstaffing in the public sector. An increasing number of Governments are discontinuing the policy of being an employer of last resort, and new entrants to the labour force are facing greater difficulty in finding jobs. In Egypt, for example, the public sector was overstaffed by around 18 per cent; with the implementation of various structural adjustment and economic reform measures, the number of employees in State-owned companies fell from 1,083,000 in June 19990 to 908,000 in June 1996 (mainly through attrition.
The annual economic growth rate of around 4.5 per cent to 5 per cent achieved by the more diversified economies since 1995 may be perceived favourably, but it is not sufficient to reduce the current high rates of unemployment to any significant degree in most of these countries. It is estimated that in Egypt and Jordan, for example, annual real GDP growth rates of between 7 and 8 per cent would be required to absorb the estimated 500,000 new entrants to the labour force in the former and the 50,000 new entrants in the latter every year. The West Bank and the Gaza Strip witnessed a decline in their unemployment rate from 24 per cent in 1996 to 21 per cent in 1997. This decline may be mainly attributed to the reductions in the number of days Israel closed its borders to Palestinian workers in 1997 compared with the previous year. The unstable political situation, which discouraged foreign and domestic private investment, and the high population growth rate in these areas prevented a greater decline in the unemployment rate. The unemployment rate in the Republic of Yemen appears to have remained at its 1996 level of 25 per cent. The unemployment situation in the Republic of Yemen is not expected to improve very much unless the private sector increases investment and employment significantly in the coming years. Annually, the Republic of Yemen must be able to accommodate 200,000 new additions to its labour force and to absorb the 35,000 State employees who are expected to lose their jobs as the Government trims its bureaucracy. Jordan’s unemployment rate declined from its 1991 high of 25 per cent and has remained at around 15 per cent over the past three years. This rate is considered high, especially in the light of the fact that real wages in Jordan generally remained stagnant during those years. In Egypt, the rate of unemployment was officially estimated at less than 9 per cent in 1997; according to other sources, however the country’s unemployment rate was around 12 or 13 per cent. In the Syrian Arab Republic, although underemployment may have been a problem, the unemployment rate is estimated to have been in the single digits in 1997.
The GCC countries are also concerned about unemployment: this may appear inconsistent with their practice of providing employment opportunities for millions of expatriate workers, who account for most of their respective labour forces. Expatriate workers represent 61 per cent of the total labour force in Oman, 83 per cent in Kuwait, and 91 per cent in the United Arab Emirates. The private sector employs less than 10 per cent of the nationals working in the GCC countries. The problem is not only that the private sector seems reluctant to employ nationals, but also that the nationals themselves prefer to be employed in the public sector. The salaries in the latter are considerably higher and the fringe benefits are more generous. In the GCC countries, a considerable number of workers in the public sector are already redundant, and new employment opportunities in this sector are expected to become increasingly scarce as the Governments ration their expenditures and limit their role in the economy. In addition, the oil sector, which is extremely important to the economies of the GCC countries (providing more than one third of total GDP) is also highly capital-intensive and thus provides fewer than 2 per cent of the jobs in these countries.
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