Our latest EIU report explores political and economic developments that will shape business across the Middle East and Africa region in 2022 and their key implications for trade and investment opportunities.

For the Middle East, The covid-19 pandemic will continue to ebb and flow across the Middle East region. New coronavirus variants such as Delta and Omicron are unlikely to be the last, containment measures will be progressively tightened then eased and vaccine diplomacy will intensify in 2022.

Most countries in the region, except the conflict hotspots and sanctions-weary Iran, will recover crisis-year lost economic output by the end of 2022, although some sectors will lag behind the recovery curve.

Africa will continue to suffer from the lingering effects of the covid-19 pandemic and risks associated with future waves of infection, especially given the likely emergence of new variants and low vaccination rates across much of the region.

Africa may be one of the world’s major regions where economic growth will accelerate in 2022, but this improvement will be modest and will follow a very difficult 2021. Moreover, economic performance across the continent will be patchy, with major economies once again underperforming.