Arab countries lose 50 million jobs to pandemic

Arab Monetary Funds has reported that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused at least 50 million job losses in the Arab countries.

While disclosing this in a report on Sunday July 12, 2020, AMF stated that the bulk of the job losses focused on the tourism industry which was as a result of the traveling restrictions mandated as a precaution against spreading the virus.

“The tourism industry is one of the most active economic sectors affected by the outbreak of Covid-19 due largely to travel restrictions,” AMF said.

The job losses equate to about 12 to 14 percent of all available jobs in the Arab countries.

AMF stated that when compared to the income generated from tourism in 2018, an increase of USD 32.1 billion was accrued in 2019, which amounts to about 11.4 per cent of their GDP.

It however stated there was a projection of worse effect this year as the industry shrinks because of the pandemic.

This is a global issue, not just limited to the Arab world, which could take three to six years to recover and get back to pre-pandemic levels.