Arab Economies at a Crossroads: Reflections from the 2025 Spring Meetings

Writer: Diam Abou Diab

The Bretton Woods Institutions held their 2025 Spring Meetings in Washington, D.C. amid an exceptional year of heightened global economic uncertainty, ongoing geopolitical tensions, and pressing development challenges. In ordinary times, these international meetings aim to set the global economic and financial agenda, and to convene public officials, private stakeholders, civil society representatives, and academics to discuss the state issues of international concern, such as economic growth, sustainable development, poverty alleviation, and inequality reduction.

However, this year brought a twist. Rather than providing a unique space for discussing economic policymaking, the 2025 forum pivoted toward mitigation measures amid increased fears for the resilience of the current multilateral system. Discussions in formal and informal channels revolved around the newly emerging global challenges, swept with uncertainties, severe debt crises, shifting political realities, and possibly new economic models.

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