Haneen Sayed is a senior fellow at the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut.
Sayed is an economic development professional, with more than 25 years at the World Bank. She has led major strategic engagements, and has engaged in business development, reform programs, and policy dialogues in economic and human development, spanning the Middle East and North Africa, East Asia, South Asia, and Europe. Her areas of expertise include social protection, labor and jobs, education, poverty, and gender, in addition to fragility and conflict.
She received her undergraduate and graduate degrees from Stanford and Columbia Universities, respectively, as well as executive training at Harvard University. She has taught at various universities in New York City, and worked at Morgan Stanley, the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, and the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development. She serves on several non-profit boards that aim to help preserve Lebanon’s human capital.
Amid an ongoing economic and fiscal crisis, Lebanon’s Parliament has approved a major reform to the country’s pension system. But it is likely to face challenges related to benefits, solvency, and coverage.
In order to explore the complexities of our rapidly changing world, the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center will examine pressing global issues through four engaging panel discussions in a one-day event, under the collective title, “The World in Focus: Uncertainty and the Global Outlook for 2024.”
How has the war, which has so thoroughly devastated Gaza, affected the economy of Israel and that of the Israeli-occupied West Bank (including East Jerusalem)? To address these questions and others, the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center is organizing a policy webinar on Thursday, December 21, 2023, at 5 PM Beirut time, 10 AM / DC Time, with Raja Khalidi and Timothy Kaldas.
By revamping its social protection system, Lebanon could address its current economic crisis and restore public trust in the government.
The 2019-2020 crises not only swept away the idea that Lebanon is a paragon of economic success, but also made blatant another kind of exceptionalism in the country—its record-high income and wealth inequality, which is perpetuated by the corrupt political economy.
Since the mass protests in October and the ensuing resignation of Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Lebanon’s economic and fiscal crisis has accelerated, with the World Bank forecasting a recession.
The political environment in MENA countries has delayed the process of starting the reforms needed to solve problems of poverty and inequality. A road map is needed to improve the institutional capacity within the government organizations responsible for social spending.
