ABSTRACT
With 63 percent of the world’s proven petroleum resources and 37 percent of its natural gas, it seems highly ironic that the Middle East and North African (MENA) region is also the largest recipient of US foreign aid. In addition to fossil fuels, the region is also well endowed with many other minerals and plants providing it with a per capita gross domestic product (GDP) twice as high as the average of developing countries, higher even than former socialist transition economies. Poverty is relatively low in MENA: only 1.6 percent of its population earns less than $1 per capita a day. Infrastructure is relatively well developed: 88 percent of its population have access to improved water sources, and 91 percent to electricity. 1 From the perspective of poverty reduction, MENA’s needs for economic assistance from the developed world are by no means as pressing as those of poorer regions, such as sub-Saharan Africa, yet MENA is the largest recipient of US foreign assistance since 1973. In 2006, the region received 39 percent of US foreign aid.
