The Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD) and the IMF-Middle East Center for Economics and Finance (CEF) co-organized on June 11, 2024, a high-level event titled “Tackling MENA Countries’ High Debt: Challenges and Policy Priorities.” This hybrid event convened experts from global and regional lending institutions, policymakers from debtor countries, and hybrid audience comprising representatives from the public and private sectors, civil society, international organizations, the press, and the diplomatic community.

Mr. Paulo Drummond, Director of the CEF, opened the seminar and Mr. Merza Hasan, AFESD’s Senior Advisor, moderated the event. The seminar included brief presentations on recent trends in sovereign debt in the MENA region (Mr. Adnan Mazarei, Peterson Institute), a developmental approach to easing the trade-off between fostering development and preserving debt sustainability (Mr. Mahmoud-Sami Nabi, AFESD), and key policy considerations for designing debt-reducing reforms (Mr. Chris Papageorgiou, IMF). A panel discussion featuring insights from the presenters, along with Messrs. Marouane El-Abassi (former Governor of the Central Bank of Tunisia) and Jian-Ye Wang (Professor at NYU Shanghai and Former Chief Economist of Exim Bank), addressed audience questions. The recording is available here.

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