The process of political change andtransition across much of the Middle East and North Africa(MENA) region continued into 2013, with a great degree ofheterogeneity across countries. The crisis in Syria hasescalated and caused massive impact on the inflow ofrefugees to Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq. Creating the rightenvironment for growth will be critical as only growth candrive job creation for the large numbers of unemployed,especially young people. Recent political changes will onlybe meaningful if they lead to concrete social and economicimprovements, but to date few election promises havetranslated into effective policies and outcomes. Throughoutthe region, unemployment rates have remained high, and insome cases, increased as economies weakened and politicalinstability harmed public and foreign investments,particularly those that support the expansion oflabor-intensive tradable activities. In the longer term,MENA countries still face the structural problems thatpredate the 'Arab Spring.' The region's mainchallenge is to create sustainable growth that delivers thequantity and quality of jobs needed. An inclusive andcompetitive private sector has proven to be one of the mosteffective and long-term solutions for unemployment, and willbe critical in tackling the scale of the problem in MENA.
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