Resources

This paper provides a comparative summary of the payout phase of insolvency systems in the MENA Region. Countries in the region generally have weaker restructuring and liquidation systems than those in most other regions. The paper summarizes many of the weaknesses...Read More

This publication is the first ever to comprehensively analyze urbanization processes in the Arab States through the review of its four sub-regions: the Maghreb, the Mashreq, the Gulf Cooperation Council countries and the least-developed Arab countries of the Southern...Read More

This paper analyzes foreign aid with regards to Arab countries, considering them both as donors and recipients. Given that Arab assistance is channeled through Arab Development Funds (ADFs), the paper describes the main features of such Funds, the resources they have...Read More

The objective of this study is to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues in the Arab region.  It comes at a critical time, when several Arab countries are experiencing significant instability, and as the timeframe for the Millennium Development Goals...Read More

This paper discusses Islamic banking products and interprets them in the context of financial intermediation theory. Anecdotal evidence shows that many of the conventional products can be redrafted as Sharia- compliant products, so that the differences are smaller than...Read More

The paper investigates the efficiency of the Islamic banking sectors in 16 MENA and Asian countries during the period of 2001-2006. The efficiency estimates of individual banks are evaluated using the non-parametric Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method. The results...Read More

This note draws on guidelines recently published by the OECD and the Basel Committee for Banking Supervision to compile a comprehensive corporate governance evaluation framework relevant to state-owned commercial and development finance institutions.  It highlights...Read More

This publication is the first regional report published by the Sanabel Network under its industry support services, intended to provide a comprehensive overview on the state of the microfi- nance sector in the Arab Region. The report draws from Sanabel – The...Read More

The role of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector cannot be over emphasized in terms of its contribution to GDP and employment generation, particularly in emerging economies. Studies indicate that formal SMEs contribute up to 45 percent of employment...Read More

This paper reviews the design of partial credit guarantee schemes in MENA, and assesses their preliminary outcomes. The paper is based on a survey conducted in 10 MENA countries in early 2010. The authors find that the average size of guarantee schemes in MENA (...Read More