Poverty levels

• In the Middle East & North Africa, where initial poverty rates were low, the rate of poverty reduction has been slower—less than one percentage point between 2002 and 2005. Growth rates of the few low-income countries in the region were less than low-income countries overall.

Investment Climate, Trade

• Tariff liberalization by OECD and developing countries caused a two-percentage point reduction in the global overall trade restrictiveness index (OTRI), to 14 percent on average. But OTRI is still highest in MENA, at 27 in 2005.

Aid

• Much of the recent increment in official development assistance (from all donors to all developing countries) reflects global and regional security concerns, with Iraq and Afghanistan accounting for over half the increase in net ODA from 2001 to 2004.