Inadequate field data impeding poverty alleviation
Economic growth rates have declined in parts of the Arab
region since 2015 and unemployment rates among the
young, in particular, remain high (Figure 17.1). For years,
young men and women have been relaying widespread
calls for economic and political reforms, via Internet, social
media and public demonstration.
The Covid-19 pandemic is likely to exacerbate poverty
levels in the region. These had already risen since the Arab
Spring of 2011, bucking the global trend towards a downturn
in poverty levels over the same period. In Egypt, for instance,
the share of the population living below the national poverty
line rose from 26.3% in 2012 to 27.8% in 2015 (Arab Rep.
Egypt, 2018). One of the main obstacles to tackling poverty
effectively in the Arab region has been the lack of reliable
data, owing primarily to inadequate field research in the social
sciences.
The economic fallout from insecurity in Iraq, Libya, Syria
and Yemen has been felt by all Arab countries, slowing the
influx of foreign direct investment (FDI) and hurting real
estate markets. The region accounts for 5% of the global
population but 32% of the world’s refugees (UNESCO, 2019).
With the exception of Libya, the economies of the Maghreb
have proved the most resilient, recording the region’s highest
combined average growth of just under 2.8% in 2017.
Military spending in the region has contracted slightly since
2015, according to data from the Stockholm International
Peace Research Institute. However, six of the top ten countries
for military expenditure as a share of GDP still came from the
Arab region in 2019 (Figure 17.1).
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have
both taken steps to acquire the requisite technological
capabilities to build military equipment. Saudi Arabia’s
2030 Vision fixes the target of manufacturing locally 50% of
the military equipment it imports by 2030. In February 2019,
the UAE’s Tawazun Economic Council announced the creation
of a Defence and Security Development Fund with a starting
capital of US$ 680 million (Samaan, 2019).
Countries have turned to tech for pandemic response
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Arab countries with a strong
manufacturing base have been able to repurpose production
lines to produce key equipment. By May, six textile factories
in Morocco were manufacturing medical masks and other
personal protective equipment exclusively, having converted
their productive facilities for the purpose. By April, microenterprises
and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
in both Algeria and Morocco were manufacturing personal
protective gear and the large Algerian textiles company
GETEX SPA was producing 2 million masks.
The pandemic has also revealed some dormant innovative
capacities. In March 2020, Morocco’s Ministry of Industry
vowed to manufacture a ventilator using only endogenous
resources; by the following month, a prototype had been
produced that was capable of operating with or without
electricity. The pandemic has opened a wide space for startups,
which have rushed to develop apps and other tools for
prevention and geolocalization, drug and food distribution,
among other areas.
Those countries with the most dynamic national research
teams have been quickest off the mark to develop screening
tests. The Lebanese National Council for Scientific Research
(CNRS-L) issued a Flash Call for Covid-19 Management as
early as March 2020. This led to the selection of 29 projects
addressing topics such as vaccination policy, rapid test
development and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to
support early diagnosis of the disease and measure its impact
on the mental health of frontline workers. Saudi universities
also mobilized research response teams to support the health
care system, as at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah.
In March 2020, the UAE opened a facility for Covid-19 in
Masdar City that was capable of testing tens of thousands of
people a day. At the time, the laboratory was the largest of its
kind outside China. It resulted from a collaboration between
UAE-based Group 42 and BGI, formerly known as the Beijing
Genomics Institute.
Governments have had recourse to imported technology.
Thermal (heat-seeking) drones have been utilized in some
open spaces and markets in Saudi Arabia to identify people
with a high body temperature, to help curb the spread of the
virus (Alfaisal, 2020). Similarly, remotely controlled robots
have been employed in Tunisia to enforce lockdown rules.1
In Bahrain, the government has enforced compliance with
self-isolation rules through electronic tracker wristbands and
the BeAware app, which monitors people's location via their
mobile phone. Whenever a self-isolating individual moves
more than 15 metres from their phone, an alert is sent to a
monitoring station (Toumi, 2020).
Monitoring committees heeding scientific advice
The Covid-19 pandemic has demonstrated the importance
of heeding scientific advice. Most Arab countries have
established ad hoc government committees staffed with
scientific advisors to manage the crisis.
For instance, Lebanon’s president announced the launch of
the Expert Committee on the Novel Coronavirus Covid-19 on
29 February 2020, comprising exerts in health policy and
management, virology and emergency medicine, among
other areas.
Saudi Arabia formed its own Covid-19 Monitoring
Committee, the same month. By mid-April, the
government had approved about 35 policies, classed as
proactive, reactive and supportive. Among supportive
policies, one could cite a government pledge to provide
all residents infected with Covid-19 with free health care
and the launch of an online service to enable expatriates
to return home.
In April 2020, Oman formed its own Technological
Innovation Committee for Combating Covid-19, consisting
of officials from institutions that include the Ministry of
Health, the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority,
Sultan Qaboos University, the Research Council and the
Oman Technology Fund. Although relatively late to form in
comparison with other Gulf states, this committee has set
up specialized teams to produce innovative solutions for
rapid diagnosis, the provision of e-health care, supply of
medication and development of technologies in support
of prevention (ONA, 2020).
Arab countries have adapted to remote learning
The pandemic has offered governments an opportunity to
improve the provision of e-services.2 It has also highlighted
the technology gap among Arab countries. Pupils and
students from the Gulf states, in particular, and those in
urban areas were better placed to pursue their education
from a distance, owing to better access to Internet and
computer technology (Figure 17.1).
Most Arab States were able to adapt their education
systems rapidly to online learning during the pandemic.
When fellow Gulf states imposed an embargo on Qatar in
2017, students from these countries who were enrolled in
Qatari university courses were able to pursue their learning
remotely. Thanks to this experience, the government was
quick to put remote learning systems in place in 2020
(QT-Online, 2020).
Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the UAE also adopted
fexible learning arrangements in 2020. Prior to the
pandemic, more than 400 000 university students had
engaged in online learning at some point, including
through the Gulf’s first virtual university, the Saudi
Electronic University (est. 2013). Thanks to this existing
capacity, Saudi Arabia was able to launch 22 educational
channels within eight hours of the first lockdown.
Whereas a similar approach to online learning was
adopted in Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia,
Kuwait proved an exception. It paused all teaching at
public schools and universities for at least six months
without offering students the option of remote learning,
despite having the necessary infrastructure in place.
Private schools, which are mostly populated by foreign
students, received more than twice as many hours of
instruction as Kuwaiti citizens.
