The annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group in Marrakech this year are of exceptional importance. The two institutions are holding their meetings in Africa for the second time ever, having eschewed the continent for half a century. Also, being the host, Morocco gives the meetings an important Arab dimension and a special Maghreb flavour.
Coming after the recent earthquake that shook the Atlas Mountains, the meetings amount to an act of solidarity with the victims and the country, a form of recognition of the progress of economic development in a North African Arab country such as Morocco, and a show of openness to an important Arab-Maghreb-African-Mediterranean region at the heart of the debate on a new world order.
This year's meetings and panels are expected to carry stormy discussions in light of the "uncertainty" that characterises the planet's economy and sends inflation and interest rates skyrocketing in light of Russia's war against Ukraine, a war that reversed many of the world's economic and financial trends.
Al-Majalla keeps pace with these meetings in special coverage from beautiful Marrakech, publishing a series of articles and analyses from different perspectives and reconsidering the history of Arab countries with the Bretton Woods institutions and the future trends their relations may take.
