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Economic reforms as an opportunity: A post-COVID social contract for the region?

29 September 2020, 09:00-10:30 (NYC, Washington DC) / 14:00-15:30 CET (Algier, Tunis, Rabat) / 15:00- 16:30 CEST/EET (Berlin, Brussels, Cairo) / 16:00-17:30 EEST (Amman, Beirut)

The Covid-19 pandemic has endangered fragile social contracts across the MENA region. The sharp economic downturn caused by the pandemic has reduced state revenues and had severe impacts on both formal and informal economic sectors. The demand for social protection has increased just as governments’ abilities to deliver has been undermined. This could have a major impact on social contracts in many MENA countries, which are based on state provision of welfare, jobs and subsidies in return for the loyalty of citizens. This kind of social contract has of course been under major pressure for many years, and its weaknesses were exposed during the Arab Uprisings a decade ago. What impact is the pandemic having on economic reform efforts in the MENA region?
How can MENA governments build on successful responses to the Covid-19 pandemic to create a compromise that shares the burden of economic reform between major political actors and interest groups?
Are new windows of opportunity for international support for reforms opening? What can external partners offer, in concrete terms, to support the emergence of new social contracts in key MENA countries?

Moderators: Markus Loewe, DIE / Henrik Meyer, FES

Speakers: Hans Frühauf, MENA Regional Director, GIZ
Ayat Soliman, MENA Regional Director for Sustainable Development, World Bank

Sep 29, 2020 03:00 PM in Amsterdam, Berlin, Rome, Stockholm, Vienna