Central and West Asia and North Africa (CWANA) Report: 10

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.

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