The faltering response to the COVID 19 crisis in the Arab region

The COVID-19 health crisis added to the multidimensional crises in the Arab region and their manifestation in conflicts, wars, economic and social inequalities, and the increasing number of refugees and migrants. It could lead to severe repercussions at the economic, social, and political levels. According to an ESCWA preliminary estimate, the region will lose at least USD42 billion in 2020 due to the Corona pandemic. ESCWA also considered that the global spread of the virus and the growing impact of low oil prices could aggravate income losses. Unemployment is expected to increase by 1.2 percentage points, meaning the loss of around 1.7 million jobs. The Arab region registers some of the highest rates of inequality around the world, and informal employment accounts for 50% of jobs. It also lacks universal social protection systems and is thus unable to protect workers and ensure their dignity during work stoppages.

The region also hosts unprecedented numbers of refugees and  migrants  living in grim conditions who will face additional repercussions as the quarantine continues. For women, who already face social, political, and economic exclusion in the region, the crisis meant additional social marginalization. Cases of domestic violence rose dramatically during the quarantine, amid additional complications related to difficulties faced by women in access to assistance, whether from friends and family, from helplines, or the application of the law. This situation explains the fear of the magnitude of the expected social impact of the current crisis.

Furthermore, most countries in the Arab region suffer from a financial deficit, brought about by their adopted economic policies, weak production capacities, and high borrowing rates. It is especially true in countries such as Lebanon, Jordan, and Tunisia, which top the list of Arab countries in terms of the heavy per capita share of the debt. Debt service has become a burden on State budgets, reducing its ability to respond to social emergencies. On the political level, the impact of the crisis began to materialize at the start of the health closures. The pandemic temporarily emptied the streets of protesters in Algeria, Lebanon, and Iraq. The region›s armies regained public squares in the name of the quarantine. There are fears that the regimes might exploit the epidemic to increase their control and thus limit and suppress freedoms. This trend is apparent in the attempts to impede civil society from participation in response operations and related public policymaking in particular.

Government Responses in the Region

Source: Information gathered from the IMF›s monitor of crisis response policies in MENA countries.

The above table, in addition to consultations through ANND’s framework, indicates that the level of economic and social response to the crisis has remained below par. Despite the compelling impact of the crisis on the economic and social situations, government responses were lacking. They allocated aid through targeting, which did not follow any comprehensive approach. The response focused on countries that initiated measures to refocus regulations and public policies as is and to adopt economic approaches without placing people at their center.

As the crisis proves once again, neoliberal approaches are incapable of protecting citizens and their resilience in dealing with such shocks. Austerity trends followed around the world are some of the main reasons that led to the inability to face the Corona crisis. They have led to the exhaustion of health systems even in developed countries, who became unable to respond to crises and epidemics. Notwithstanding, Arab countries did not take the initiative to rethink the adopted general policy approaches. Their responses stuck to the same general directions and fragmented approaches that seek to support businesses through tax exemptions, deferral of debt obligations, and support for small and medium-sized companies. All the while, aid to marginalized groups remains inadequate, and there is no evidence of any steps to rethink the current social protection systems. On this basis, responding to the crisis requires comprehensive approaches addressing the immediate dimension through rapid interventions to limit the collapse and seek to protect productive and decent-work-generating economic sectors. Such approaches should be part of a long-term strategy based on lessons learned from the crisis and in the proposals for an alternative development paradigm with universal human rights at its core. Addressing a crisis of global proportions requires cooperation and synergy between countries. However, quarantine measures that imposed border closures were accompanied by countries closing upon themselves and focusing on national crisis response initiatives. They failed to take into consideration its long-term global repercussions, which will bounce back to all countries. This isolationist approach is repeated in the Arab region amidst the faltering framework of its regional institutions and political divisions, which were unable to push towards regional cooperation to face the crisis. Low oil prices and their disastrous impact on Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries came to reduce the possibilities and opportunities for cooperation, although Arab cooperation is needed now more than ever.

By Zahra Bazzi, Arab NGO Network for Development (ANND).

Source: News Bulletin "The pandemic's tremendous effect on the Arab region". Arab NGO Network for Development (ANND).