Weak institution, lavish spending behind Arab economies' decline - economist

KUWAIT, Nov 3 (KUNA) -- An international economist said Tuesday weak institutions, unemployment and lavish spending were main reasons behind decline of most of Arab economies, and called for providing equal opportunities for all.
Shantayanan Devarajan, World Bank's Middle East and North Africa Region's chief economist, Arab governments were providing jobs in public sector, in addition to offering free education, subsidizing health care, fuel and food "which makes the burden on this sector very huge." Devarajan, speaking at an economic seminar, said the Arab governments should boost competitiveness of public sector as well as fully implementing governance principles.
He called for paving way for private sector to provide public services and sustainable development, and that citizens should be involved in economic and production development.
Devarajan said complete dependence on public sector over past years contributed to decline in poverty in most of the Arab countries, specifically in the Gulf nations, and improving living conditions, and indicators of education and health.
However, he added, this trend has turned out to be useless because of the decline in income resources and decrease in public services quality.
Therefore, said Devarajan, new methods should be explored to achieve economic development through involvement of private sector in offering public services. (end) smr.bs