On August 28, 2015, High level officials from the MEA region’s most prominent banking associations, representing more than 350 financial institutions, presided over the release of the Union of Arab Bank’s (UAB) Economic Assessment report in Beirut, Lebanon. The officials discussed how the implementation of its recommendation can be achieved through the Digital Economy.
A key observation from the report was the paucity of inter-Arab trade and the Arab region’s strong international trade with G20 nations. While improved inter-Arab trade is a key recommendation, the report acknowledged that with its vast market potential, the Arab region requires even greater economic alignment with the G20 nations.
As a member of five 2015 B20 Task Forces, GCEL provided an analysis noting that all of the Arab region’s economic report recommendations closely aligned with the draft B20 recommendations. Moreover, 17 of 25 key B20 draft recommendations were identified as being impacted by the Digital Economy.
The Digital Economy will significantly drive new levels of real economic growth globally, resulting in a USD 5.5 trillion market opportunity in the fields of e-commerce, e-finance, and e-insurance while creating over 300 million jobs globally.