The Arab region has been witnessing discernible progress across all levels of implementing the 2030 Sustainable Development and Addis Ababa Action Agendas’. Nonetheless, there are mounting concerns that financing is not happening at the pace that can turn conflicts, inequalities and other socio-economic hardships into an issue of the past, let alone achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

The benefits of the global economic and financial recovery are asymmetrically percolating across regions and countries prompting a race to the bottom to counter underinvestment in critical social infrastructure. The situation is fueling beggar-thy-neighbor dispositions breeding harmful tax competition and fiscal conjectures. Domestic resource mobilization efforts remain hinged on regressive taxonomy. Equally pervasive, informal sectors remain insulated from the overall planning and implementation of the SDG reform agenda.

The challenges facing the Arab region are no longer confined to the traditional factors influencing economic frailty rather, today they involve a broader stream of factors, including foreign direct investment reflux; private capital constraints and reversals; debt distress; subdued trade growth and increased exposures to illicit finance.