Economic Effects of the Pandemic

This book addresses the impact and implications of the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the most challenging public health risks to human wellbeing, on the economic activities and behaviors of Middle Eastern countries during and in the aftermath of the pandemic. It provides detailed examination of how the global and Middle Eastern economies incurred significant financial and economic damages, human losses, and hundreds of millions of people losing their jobs. The analysis of this book is entirely based on primary data and a mix of quantitative and qualitative research methods to accurately account for the effects of the pandemic on the economy, finance, and tourism. While providing in-depth analysis of the macro and micro economy at global and national levels, the book investigates the impact of the pandemic on human behavior including household and water consumptions in the GCC countries, as well as offering potential green strategies for sustainable recovery in the post-pandemic era. As well as explaining the negative effects of the pandemic on the tourism and hospitality industries, the book also offers some positive outcomes from the pandemic, most notably in the innovation and IT sector and creative approaches in banking practices and services to ensure financial stability and sufficient liquidity in the market. Readers, students, researchers, industry practitioners and policy makers will benefit from the new insights offered by a diverse group of senior researchers and experts from across the world. Ashraf Mishrif is the founding chair of the Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry Research Chair for Economic Studies, Humanities Research Centre, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman. Prior to that he was Associate Professor at King’s College London and taught at several universities in the United Kingdom and the Gulf countries. He also served as Cultural Advisor for the Egyptian Embassy Cultural Bureau in London, Managing Director of the London-based consulting firm EU-Med International, and Industrial Development Consultant, UNIDO, Vienna. He is an expert in economic development and the political economy of the Middle East and has authored more than 90 books, chapters, and peer-reviewed and conference papers, including two volumes on economic diversification and nationalization of the labour market in the GCC.