ESCWA: unemployment on the rise since 2008

GDP recorded 2.5 percent growth in 2012

Around ten percent of the active population was unemployed in 2012, according to the UN’s ESCWA region Economic and Social Developments Survey. The estimated average unemployment rate for the entire ESCWA region was 11.4 percent for the same year. Locally, the unemployment rate rose from 8.7 percent in 2008 to 9.5 percent in 2011.

The ESCWA region consists of the six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), as well as Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.

The country's real GDP growth for 2012 was estimated at 2.5 percent. Growth decelerated drastically in 2011, hitting the two percent mark after peaking at seven percent in 2010. The 2012 GDP growth estimate was higher than in Egypt, Syria, and Yemen, coming directly behind Jordan and Bahrain.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows showed a decreasing trend, partly affected by political and social instability in Syria. In parallel, growth in foreign reserves turned flat.

The inflation rate in 2012 stood at five percent, the fifth highest in the region and a tie with Iraq. Syria, Sudan, and Yemen recorded the highest inflation rates, with 28 percent, 25 percent, and 22 percent respectively. Egypt had an inflation of 11 percent.