The Covid-19 pandemic is already having a huge impact on African economies, particularly in North Africa, the hardest hit region on the continent. What will become of African youth trying to enter an already tight labor market? Will skilled workers suffer again from high levels of unemployment and that gloomy outlook that were among the root causes of the Arab Spring?
To discuss this topic, the Moroccan think tank Policy Center for the New South and the International Monetary Fund organized a webinar on June 4th, in order to reflect on the future of the “post Covid-19 generation.” The panel, which was held in French, started with a reality check and tackled the real economic and social consequences of the pandemic. The inevitable post-coronavirus recession in North Africa was also a topic, leading to a discussion on the necessary reforms in the education field and labor market.
Along with Jihad Azour, former Minister of Finance of Lebanon and current Director of the MENA region and Central Asia for the IMF, Karim El Aynaoui, economist and president of the Policy Center for the New South, Nour Kaabi, executive director of Jamaity, a Tunisian civil society platform, and Touria Benlaflikh, founder and CEO of Empower People, a social enterprise operating in Morocco.
You can watch the full debate here.