|
Table 1-3.
Agricultural GDP as share of total GDP and
major imports.
|
Country |
Agricultural GDP as
share of total GDP (%) |
Major imports |
|
Afghanistan |
|
-
- |
|
Algeria |
10.0 |
Wheat, dry cow's milk,
maize |
|
Armenia |
26.2 |
Wheat |
|
Azerbaijan |
- |
- |
|
Bahrain |
0.7 |
Chicken |
|
Djibouti |
3.7 |
Wheat |
|
Egypt |
16.8 |
Wheat, maize, cake of soy beans |
|
Iran |
12.1 |
Wheat, oil of soybeans, rice milled |
|
Jordan |
2.2 |
Wheat, maize |
|
Kuwait |
- |
- |
|
Kyrgyzstan |
38.6 |
Wheat |
|
Lebanon |
11.0 |
Cattle |
|
Libya |
- |
Flour of wheat, paste
of tomato, wheat |
|
Mauritania |
20.8 |
Sugar, oil of soybeans |
|
Morocco |
16.1 |
Wheat |
|
Oman |
3.2 |
Dry whole cow's milk,
rice milled |
|
Pakistan |
23.0 |
Oil palm |
|
Palestine |
- |
- |
|
Qatar |
- |
- |
|
Saudi Arabia |
5.1 |
Barley, sheep, rice |
|
Somalia |
- |
- |
|
Sudan |
39.2 |
Wheat |
|
Syria |
22.6 |
Sugar, maize |
|
Tajikistan |
24.3 |
Beef and veal, sugar,
wheat |
|
Tunisia |
10.3 |
Wheat, maize, barley |
|
Turkey |
13.1 |
Cotton, skins, tobacco
leaves |
|
Turkmenistan |
28.8 |
Sugar |
|
United Arab Emirates |
3.6 |
Rice milled |
|
Yemen |
15.2 |
Wheat, sugar, oil palm |
Source: FAO, 2005. |
|
GDP was about
17% in 2002. Syria achieved the highest rate of local saving, 30%, of all
Arab countries in 2002 (AOAD, 2003). The percentage of saving of the GDP was
the highest in Qatar (54.5%), Libya (46.1%), Emirates (38.4%) and Algeria
(44.3%) in 2003. It was around 20% in Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco and
Tunisia and was less than 10% in Lebanon in 2003 (World Economic Forum,
2005).
Total Arab external investment is
around US$1,400 billion. Almost half of this is Saudi Arabian investment.
The other half comes from almost all the other OPEC Arab countries. This
investment is either direct or in bonds and stocks. Foreign investment in
Arab countries was about US$8,616 million in 2003. More than one-quarter of
this foreign investment, 26.4%, is in Morocco and about 15.7% in Sudan. The
remainder, 57.9%, is invested in the remaining Arab countries. Since Syria
has achieved a high saving rate, it will be able to invest without borrowing
or external investment, which will lead to a high economic growth rate.
1.1.5
Geopolitics
CWANA is subject to several
geopolitical disputes. A key example is a shared sea among some Central
Asian countries, which is becoming diminished (Box 1-2).
1.2
Well-being
1.2.1
Demography
The management strategy of a
government toward its environment and to economic planning depends on its
perception
|
Box 1-2. Disappearing Aral Sea waters
The
Aral Sea in Central Asia has been deprived of water sufficient to
maintain its water levels since the 1960s. The fresh water that used to
sustain the sea has been used by neighboring countries to produce export
crops. Large amounts of water from the two main rivers feeding the Aral
Sea were diverted into the desert to irrigate about 2.5 million
hectares. It used to receive about 50 km3 of fresh water per year in the
1960s; by the early 1980s it received none. By the 1990s, the surface
area of the Aral Sea had shrunk by half and its volume had gone down by
75 percent. Its salinity had increased fourfold, preventing the survival
of most of the sea's fish and wildlife. The negative environmental
results include fisheries loss, water and soil contamination, and
dangerous levels of polluted airborne sediments. Commercially useful
fish catches of about 40,000 tonnes annually have ceased. Soil salinity
has affected about 40% of the irrigated land. The regional water table
has fallen. Many oases near the shore have been destroyed. Winds have
picked up and scattered salt- and pesticide-laced particles, devastating
surrounding regions. By 1990, more than 95% of the marshes and wetlands
had given way to sand deserts. Communities face severe health problems.
Drinking water is polluted, chronic bronchitis and kidney and liver
diseases have increased by 3000%. The infant mortality rate is one of
the world's highest.
Sources: UNEP, 1992, 1997, 2002b. |
|