① Leaders can no longer use oil wealth to placate their struggling citizens.
② “Many small and medium-sized companies are shutting down, ”he said.” We see companies firing Saudis.
③ The International Monetary Fund ranks the Middle East and North Africa as the worst-performing corner of the world economy since 2011, along with Latin America.
④ “I’d walk in the street, and people would tell me, ’If we can’t get everything now, we’ll never get it later! ’There was no trust.”
⑤ Protest, sometimes violent, have been the main avenue for people to seek change. There are few signs so far that Middle Eastern leaders have managed to deliver it.” It’s not just about economics, ” says Radwan, the former Egyptian minister. ” It ’ s addressing expectations, addressing fears.”
——摘自《Bloomberg Businessweek》·19年5期·P37-38《An Economic Storm Gathers Over the Middle East》
解读：中东耗尽了石油时代所带来的与生俱来的国家财富，已经进入极具危险的经济低迷期，在内乱不断、国际外债累累的环境下，年轻一代虽然意识到经济复兴的重要性，但是依旧不知所措，求路无门。政府的改革措施并不能立竿见影，受到民众暴力、动乱、抵抗的影响，政府本身的当政稳定性也被严重威胁。再看蓬勃崛起的亚洲，GDP年均增长率已跃居世界第一，技术与创新成为国家发展的第一引擎，年轻一代的创新意识与教育改革，值得曾经的石油大亨们深思。
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