The International Monetary Fund on Thursday said it was prepared to lend about $35 billion to oil importing countries in the Middle East and North Africa region. But that was a small part of the more than $300 billion the region could require over the next two years, even before reforms, it said.
The IMF said the lending would be part of its pledge in April to help member countries from the MENA region transition to democratic governments after an Arab Spring of unrest overthrew strongmen in Tunisia and Egypt. The estimate came in an IMF report to the leaders of the Group of Eight industrialised countries as a two-day summit got under way in the French seaside resort of Deauville.
According to its calculations, "in the current baseline scenario - that does not yet include the reform agendas that countries would develop - the external financing needs of the region's oil importers is projected to exceed $160 billion during 2011-13, and their fiscal financing needs are about $150 billion."
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