Inside this Issue

• Message from the Director
• CEF Steering Committee
• Social Safety Nets
• Financial Programming and Policies
• Improving Competitiveness
• Mr. Hazem Beblawi’s Visit
• CEF Safety and Security Day
• Who’s Who at the CEF
• CEF Activities 2015

Dear friends of the CEF,

I have the pleasure to introduce to you the CEF’s first news- letter. It sets out the CEF team’s strategy and vision for the coming years, in addition to some thoughts on Kuwait’s long- standing interest and role in the Arab world’s intellectual ad- vancement. It also aims at giving a feel for the Center’s work and contributions by highlighting recent activities and special events. The final part of the newsletter includes a summary of the CEF activities delivered so far in 2015 and planned in the remainder of the year, which you can also find by visiting our CEF website www.cef.me

In addition to the core courses, the CEF is preparing events on a broad range of timely themes, such as a panel discussion on the economic and social implications of subsidy reforms, in partnership with the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, and a Global Islamic Finance Conference, orga- nized jointly with the Central Bank of Kuwait and the IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia Department.

As it happens, several changes in management staff took effect since my joining the Center in December 2014. I would there- fore like to take this opportunity to welcome on board Sami Ben Naceur as the Deputy Director, and Raja’a Al-Behaisi our new Office Manager, and express the CEF team’s appreciation to Therese Perlmutter who did a superb job as the interim Office Manager during a very busy period of transition.

We regard the initial issues of this periodical to be experi- mental in spirit, in the sense that they will serve to guide the form and content of a newsletter that best responds to our audience’s interests. Special thanks go to the CEF team in the preparation of the newsletter, in particular to Fatima Keaik for her meticulous and creative work in its design and editing. The CEF team is keen to take on board your feedback and views, by e-mail to okanaan@imf.org and look forward to meeting you soon at the Center. Oussama Kanaan, CEF Director

Fostering an Education and Training Center to Help the Arab World’s Public Servants to Better Tackle New Economic Challenges

The Director’s Perspective

Why in Kuwait?

“Why is this Center located in Kuwait?” is a question I have been asked quite a few times by visitors to the International Monetary Fund-Middle East Center for Economics and Finance (CEF) since I joined in Decem- ber 2014. To those who are unfamiliar with Kuwait’s rich cultural history, traditions and achievements, the answer to that question may not be that straightforward. I had the good luck of having spent some of my elemen- tary school years in Kuwait, between 1974 and 1977. Ku- wait in those years was renowned for its world class ed- ucational institutions and cultural centers that were the primary nurturing and training grounds for Arab schol- ars. It was also a cradle for some of the most respected journals and periodicals, many of which set new stan- dards in the Arab world for analytical rigor and artistic creativity. And even in broader and finer fields, such as football, theater and cinema, Kuwait advanced boldly on the world stage, such as with its submission to the 1973 Academy Awards of the first Kuwaiti film Bas Ya Baher—which so deftly depicts ordinary people’s eco- nomic hardship in the pre-oil era. Kuwait’s intellectual prominence, along with its material wealth, also made it the natural host for centers dispensing development support and economic policy advice throughout the re- gion, such as the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development.

The CEF has been providing education and training in economics and finance to officials from all Arab coun- tries since 2011, with an official inauguration by Kuwait’s Minister of Finance Anas Al-Saleh and IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde in Kuwait City in November 2014. Kuwait, through the Kuwait Investment Author- ity under the leadership of Managing Director Bader Al-Sa’ad, has been generously hosting and financing the Center. This is only one of many steps that Kuwait has taken in recent years toward a broad Renaissance to real- ize and further expand its people’s vast potential, while at the same time advancing its long-standing vision and aspirations in service to the wider Arab community.

The curriculum is geared to helping address core economic policy hurdles

As the CEF team starts the preparation of the 2016 course program, we all bear in mind the Arab world’s pressing economic policy challenges. These challenges, to varying degrees across countries, include rising unemployment and income inequality, weak or fledgling institutions, pressures on public finances and international reserves, weak investor confidence, and an uncertain trade and fi- nancial environment as well as volatile oil prices. Persis-

tence of these difficulties, especially given high people’s expectations, could very well worsen—and in turn be re- inforced by—the already precarious political and social environment that these countries also have in common, notably a rocky path toward inclusive government, ris- ing internal social tensions, and conflict-related spill- overs from one country to another.

The design of the 2016 program is benefiting from sev- eral channels to gain feedback on the kind of training and advice that would best help officials address those challenges. These include regular feedback from par- ticipants in CEF courses and workshops, as well as in discussions with Directors of Training in central banks and ministries throughout the Arab world. Besides the addition of new seminars and workshops, the continual dialogue serves to enrich and fine-tune the content of existing courses. To illustrate, workshops on diversi- fication in oil-producing countries could add sessions dealing specifically with the impact of the decline in the price of oil; training focused on inclusive growth or re- form of the social safety net could include lectures on the consequences of conflict on vulnerable groups; and workshops on public expenditure management would have an added emphasis on good governance and pub- lic sector transparency and accountability. The CEF cur- riculum continues to bring together stakeholders from all strands of society, in addition to high-level economic policy makers to discuss pertinent issues of special in- terest to today’s Arab world. A key event scheduled for November 11, 2015 is the Global Conference on Islamic Finance, one important part of which will explore how Islamic finance could promote inclusive development.

Joint training programs with centers abroad are be- ing enriched

To expand the multi-disciplinary aspect of its work, and to broaden its outreach in the Arab world, the Center will further strengthen its partnership with the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) in Abu-Dhabi with a steady rise in the number of joint courses, and the introduction of a new venue for some of the courses in Oman. Also, the program for joint training with Bank Al-Maghrib will be built upon with special attention to the capacity develop- ment needs of the North Africa region. We hope that the successful experience with the Arab Monetary Fund and Bank Al-Maghrib will encourage other regional training centers to join hands with the CEF in similar programs.

IMF courses will continue to be enriched through col- laboration with other regional centers whose mandates

complement in important ways the CEF’s vision. In par- ticular, the CEF will expand its joint workshops with the Middle East Technical Assistance Center (METAC). Recent experience has confirmed that there are substan- tial synergies between economics training and technical assistance, and there will be an increased focus on areas in high demand in the region, in particular those tied to public sector policy, governance and transparency.

We will also strive to create synergies with IMF Train- ing Centers in other regions of the world. One important initiative in 2015 has been an arrangement with the Joint Vienna Institute (JVI) aimed at fostering close and regu- lar interaction between CEF and JVI staff, including oc- casional on-site visits. It is hoped that the joint activities, face-to-face interactions, continual exchange of views, and stock-taking of experiences in similar fields will help in sharpening the training centers’ practices especially in the areas of management, teaching, and outreach.

Partnerships focus on timely development issues of interest to Arab policy makers

The CEF’s curriculum will also continue to greatly ben- efit from World Bank courses in areas to which Arab countries’ policy makers are according greater attention such as health and education. One particularly success- ful model of recent collaboration with the World Bank is the recent seminar on Scaling Up Universal Health Coverage and Containing Non-Communicable Diseases, which is in line with CEF’s vision of supporting well- rounded development with adequate social safety nets. Similarly, our joint work with the Organization for Eco- nomic Cooperation and Development (OECD) will have as an important component the “MENA-OECD Initia- tive on Governance and Investment”, with new courses in the macro-financial area and regional investment inte- gration issues. Collaboration with the World Trade Or- ganization (WTO) will include several joint workshops that shed light on the role of external trade in supporting sustainable economic development.

Linkages with economic and scientific centers in Kuwait will be strengthened

The CEF team will strive for the remainder of 2015 and the coming years to strengthen, as much as possible, the linkages between the Center and wider intellectual soci- ety in Kuwait. One channel is to leverage the presence of eminent economists delivering courses at the Center for additional participation in panels and workshops open to the wider public, whenever possible in partnership with local institutions. This is not only to take advan- tage of the logistical and cost advantage of the Center’s location, but also to encourage synergies among the es- tablished universities, think tanks and other leading in- stitutions such as the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development and the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic

Development, the Arab Planning Institute, the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences, the Ku- wait Institute for Scientific Research, and the Center for Research and Studies on Kuwait, to name only a few. A highly successful model for partnering with the public sector is the ongoing collaboration between the CEF and the Central Bank of Kuwait in hosting the “Workshop on Macro-Prudential Policies in the GCC”, which is the main regional forum for the GCC countries’ bank super- visors. Our aim is to apply this model to other public sector agencies, with a view to positioning them in key regional leadership positions, as well as serving the ca- pacity needs of the wider Arab world. In parallel, the CEF will step up its internship program jointly with the Lothan Youth Achievement Center (LOYAC) to provide training opportunities at the Center for young talented students and fresh graduates in economics and finance. As policymakers face ever more pressing challenges on all fronts, our hope is that the above endeavors will con- tribute, even if most modestly, to the adoption of sound economic and financial policies in our member countries. I look forward to your visit and your thoughts on any as- pect of the Center’s work to better serve the Arab world. Oussama Kanaan, CEF Director Oussama Kanaan assumed his responsibilities in Kuwait in December 2014 as the Director of the IMF-Middle East Cen- ter for Economics and Finance. His previous responsibilities in the region have included the positions of IMF Mission Chief or Resident Representative for several Arab countries. He worked on a range of world regions and departments at the IMF, in- cluding the Policy Development and Review, Fiscal Affairs, and African departments. He also served as the Alternate Executive Director at the IMF for the Chair representing countries in the region. He has published in the areas of economic growth, trade and development, and holds a Ph.D. in economics from Yale University.