Volume 2, Issue 1

This paper investigates the Moroccan growth experience since 1960 and compares it with the rest of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). While Morocco and the MENA have faced a decreasing growth rate over the period, Moroccan growth was higher and much more volatile. The contribution of labor to growth remained constant over the period, while the contributions of capital and total factor productivity decreased markedly. The growth experience of Morocco was further impacted by the predominance of a rural population and the frequency of drought years. In contrast to the MENA, human capital had a positive impact on growth.

This paper examines the stability, predictability, volatility, time varying risk premiums and persistence of shocks to volatility in the ten Middle Eastern and African (ME&A) emerging stock markets. Although the majority of ME&A markets only recently gained emerging status, one finds that five out of the ten ME&A emerging markets have stable returns over time. On the issue of predictability in the ME&A emerging markets, three different tests have been employed to draw conclusions. It was found that by using the three different tests, one receives slightly different results on predictability. In general, one finds ME&A markets to be unpredictable. The findings on volatility in the emerging market indicate that eight out of the ten markets show evidence of volatility clustering, but in these eight ME&A markets the shocks are not explosive. On persistence of shocks to volatility, one finds only one market to have permanent shocks; and the volatility movement affects the stock market returns. In summary, eight emerging markets have volatility clustering and one market shows positive and significant time varying risk premiums. Overall, the results fail to indicate time varying risk premium in nine of the ten ME&A markets. Although many of the emerging markets in ME&A regions are in the formative stage, it is felt that ME&A equity markets are where investors may find a good return for the investment, considering the trade-off between risk and return. In particular, the correlation is found to be low, which provides investors with the opportunity for diversification.

This paper presents a thorough empirical analysis of fiscal developments in Lebanon over the past three decades. After an evaluation of major fiscal and monetary developments, the paper uses the Present Value Constraint framework to analyze whether debt and deficits are sustainable. Unit root and co-integration tests reveal that public debt in Lebanon is not sustainable. It is also shown that Lebanon could be heading towards a debt and exchange rate crisis, which could degenerate into a banking crisis similar to the one observed in Argentina, unless timely fiscal adjustment measures are introduced in the near future.

This study tests the validity of the purchasing power parity (PPP) theory using a panel of ten Arab countries. It also measures the speed of convergence for the panel and for the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), including Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates which follow a hard dollar peg. The test is conducted using nine base currencies. The main findings are first on the validity of PPP. (1) The null of unit root is rejected using each of the nine currencies as a numeraire—the result appears to be invariant to the choice of the base currency. (2) The result appears to be stronger when the estimation is based on heterogeneous rather than homogeneous serial correlations among panel units. Secondly, on persistence. (3) The estimated average half-life of a shock to the real exchange rate in the full panel is 2.19 years. (4) The study reveals that for the GCC economies deviation from PPP will be more persistent due to the hard peg, the dollar volatility and the weak goods market arbitrage. Clearly, the GCC countries will need to move to a more stable peg to be able to achieve the benefits they hope by engaging in a monetary union by 2010.

Dollarization: Lessons from Europe and the Americas, edited by Louis-Philippe Rochon and Mario Seccareccia (Routledge, 2003). 192 pp., 26 line figures, 3 tables, (hardback), ISBN 04 1 5298784.