Egyptian Bourse, oil markets lead Middle East to economic boom

The World Bank said yesterday that the Middle East and North Africa scored in the last two years the biggest economic leap since the 1990s as rate of growth hit 6 percent in 2003 and 5.6 percent in 2004 due to a rise on crude oil prices and flourishing stock markets mainly the Egyptian bourse.

The WB's top economist Moustafa Nably who is in charge of the Middle East and North Africa said these increasing rate of growth led to a decline in unemployment rate from 15 percent to 13.4.

He indicated that this leap did not take place in the whole region, but it was vivid in four countries: Saudi Arabia, Algeria,Iran and United Arab of Emirates against a lower rate of growth in the remaining countries, and even a drop against the figures declared in the 1990s.

He added the rise on the crude oil revenues pushed forward the government's expenditures and investments in a way that reflected positively on the total rate of growth.