The current fiscal imbalances and fragilities in the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean countries (SEMC) are the result of decades of instability, but have become more visible since 2008, when a combination of adverse economic and political shocks (the global and European financial crises, Arab...

The annual electricity investments needed in the Middle East and North Africa region to keep up with demand have been estimated at about 3 percent of the region's projected gross domestic product. However, in most economies of the region, the ability to make those investments is limited by...

Empirical evidence suggests that women are more vulnerable to chronic poverty and gender inequality is likely to condition the impacts of policies on the rest of the economy and consequently on poverty itself. While gender-responsive budgeting has made significant headway into economic policy,...

The evaluation covers the Commission’s co-operation with the Mediterranean Partner Countries (MPC) implemented under the MEDA II Regulation over the period 2000-2006. It includes Commission funds managed by the European Investment Bank (EIB). Geographically it covers the MEDA-8 countries...

Cluster policy has become a method of choice for policymakers in many countries. Promoting strong localized industries is an appealing perspective for practitioners, as it can be seen as a way to anchor economic activity in regions in an era of globalization. If cluster policy is successful, it...

In this study, we use Okun's Law to examine whether growth has been jobless in seventeen MENA countries. The methods used are the ARDL approach for the individual country and the panel data analysis for the entire sample. The period considered in this study is from 1980 to 2013. To test for...

The purpose of this evaluation specifically relates to the SIGMA Programme implemented in eleven beneficiary countries of the European Neighbourhood Region (ENP) from its inception in the ENP Region in 2008 until mid-2013. This evaluation assesses the SIGMA Programme in the ENP Region in terms...