Growth has accelerated in Middle Eastern and North African countries this year despite global uncertainty and conflicts in the region, according to an IMF report.

Despite the war in Gaza, the region was “able to withstand the big geopolitical shock of the last two years”, including neighbouring countries such as Jordan and Egypt, Jihad Azour, IMF director for the Middle East and Central Asia, said in an interview with AFP.

The current ceasefire in the Palestinian territory is “an important and welcome development”, but it is still too early to know whether it will affect the region’s economic outlook.

“The impact on the region hinges on how this stability will materialise into improvement in the overall risk profile for the region and also what we see of potential reconstruction or post-conflict in Syria, Lebanon and in Gaza, and also later in the West Bank,” he explained.

The immediate priority is to assess the damage in Gaza and the reconstruction needs, with support from the United Nations and the World Bank, Azour added.