Politics, Policies and Prospects of the MENA Region

Destination-based business cash-flow taxes have received a great deal of attention and are being widely considered as a replacement for traditional, origin-based, corporate taxes. These taxes combine the strong revenue-raising ability of a VAT with an enormously expensive tax deduction for wages. They would certainly be attractive to foreign investors by eliminating the burden of current corporate taxes. However, adopting them at the rates typically discussed would raise consumer pr ...

This paper reports the results of an application using an interregional input-output matrix for Morocco together with regional information on water consumption by sectors. We develop a trade-based index that reveals the relative water use intensities associated with specific interregional and international trade flows. We estimate, for each flow associated with each origin-destination pair, measures of trade in value added and trade in water that are further used to calculate our in ...

Since 2011 and the end of the post-election crisis, Côte d’Ivoire has returned to impressive economic growth. The country and its capital are drawing attention from a growing number of investors, and the “Abidjanian middle classes” are widely publicised and sought after. At the same time, Abidjanian consumption spaces have become particularly diversified and transformed. Abidjan provides many options for consumers who are operating in a competitive environment with a wide selection ...

The 132nd day in the Gregorian calendar, anno 2018, will be part of history, a day future generations will most likely not forget, the 12th of May. Only history buffs will remember that on the 12th day of May, Napoleon conquered Venice, once known as the “Most Serene Republic”. On May 12th and the following days in the year of 1940, the Nazis crossed the Meuse and defeated France in a Blitzkrieg. England’s King George VI celebrated his coronation in 1937, on this same fateful day, w ...

L’Afrique centrale a fait l’objet du focus sous-régional de la deuxième partie des cinquièmes Dialogues stratégiques, une rencontre biannuelle organisée le 11 avril dernier à Paris par l’OCP Policy Center et HEC.  Renouveler le partenariat Europe-Afrique Le débat s’est d’abord inscrit dans une réflexion générale sur « l’Afrique et le monde». Dans ce cadre, le partenariat traditionnel entre l’Afrique et l’Europe semble avoir besoin de se renouveler, dans la mesure où la politique e ...

In its March 2018 meeting, the Federal Reserve raised the target range for federal funds rate by a quarter point to 1.5-1.75 percent and Fed officials are now projecting a steeper path of hikes for the next two years. Recent inflation data would hint at the Fed staying firmly on track for another 25bp rate hike in June. As producer price inflation hit a seven-year high and a tightened labor market is exercising upward pressure on wage growth, there is no wonder expectations have sli ...

The recently signed African Continental Free Trade Agreement represents a countercurrent to protectionist tendencies across the Atlantic and the Pacific, and may well move the economic integration of the African continent forward. Translating the vision into action, however, will call upon signatories to undertake deeper domestic reforms and to confront specific challenges related to the agreement itself. This brief explains why the agreement is important for Africa and identifies p ...