Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Minister of Industry, Trade and Supply, Yarub Qudah, Sunday, took presidency of Economic and Social Council of the Arab League from Minister of Economy and Finance of Mauritania Mokhtar Ould Ajay .

The minister said economic conditions had cast a shadow over the Arab region, while stressing the need to complete integrated joint Arab projects.

According to World Bank estimates, the minister said, growth rates trended downwards to 2.7 per cent in 2016 in the Middle East and North Africa region because of a slowdown in global growth, significant decline in oil prices and wars and conflicts in the region.

"Foreign trade of Arab states had been affected by a slow-moving growth in international trade", said Qudah, adding that the World Trade Organization projected the lag at 1.7 per cent for 2016, registering the lowest growth rate since the global financial crisis.

Qudah added that foreign direct investment inflow to Arab countries saw a decline by 43 per cent during 2010-2015, from $70 billion to around $40 billion.

Successive crises which affected global economy, proved that shifting to productive economy and attracting profitable investment were the most successful way to deal with crises, explained the minister.

*Petra