RIYADH: The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region’s economic losses will amount to almost $200 billion by the end of 2021 as a result of the pandemic, the World Bank estimated.
The region’s GDP contracted by 3.8 percent in 2020 and is forecast to grow by 2.8 percent in 2021, the multilateral lender said in a report.
Costs of the pandemic losses are calculated by comparing where the region’s GDP would have been if the pandemic had not hit, the bank said.
Thirteen out of 16 countries in the region will have lower standards of living in 2021 than their pre-COVID levels, and recovery will depend on a rapid and equitable rollout of vaccines.