Arab Spring has cost region 6 percent of GDP: U.N. agency

The Arab Spring unrest of 2011 has cost the region's economies an estimated $614 billion of growth because of regime change, continuing conflict and falling oil prices, a United Nations agency said on Thursday.


The figure from the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), equivalent to 6 percent of GDP up to the end of last year, is based on growth projections made before the uprisings that toppled four leaders and mired Yemen, Syria and Libya in war.

Published on Thursday, it is the first estimate of its kind by a global economic body.
 [Reuters]
10/11/16