Students Spotlight Unemployment Issues in Mideast

About 50 students from the Middle East and North Africa will take part in the discussion to be broadcast live via BBC Arabic on television, radio, and the internet.

The broadcast (to run from 1506 to 1630 GMT, or 1806 to 1930 in Jordan) is intended to be an exchange of views with the next generation of leaders on the economic challenges facing the region. The program is the next step in the IMF Middle East Youth Dialog, which aims to engage young people across the region to help define forward-looking policy solutions. First and foremost among these challenges is reducing youth unemployment, which calls for both sustainable growth and labor market reforms in the Middle East.

Rapid population growth

"With youth unemployment in the Middle East among the highest in the world, the region is an ideal launching ground for this new initiative," Strauss-Kahn said. "The region’s fast population growth makes it imperative to generate productive and sustainable jobs that will meet the aspirations of tomorrow’s workforce."

In the first stage of the dialog, roundtable discussions between economics students and IMF staff were held at universities in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and the United Arab Emirates over the past month. From those sessions, 24 students were selected to travel to Amman to participate in the broadcast. In addition, the other students from the University of Jordan also have been invited to attend.

"At the roundtable discussions, many students identified the need to reduce unemployment and poverty, and improve education systems as economic policy priorities for their countries," said Masood Ahmed, Director of the IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia Department . "Good macroeconomic and financial management lays the basis for the sustained growth that can help to address these concerns. The IMF is working with countries in the region in finding innovative and country-specific solutions to enhance growth prospects."

Broader audience

The roundtables and BBC town hall are just a few of the steps in a process of IMF outreach to young people across the Middle...