Of the fifteen countries in the region, all but Algeria, Egypt, and Syria had debt to export ratios below 200 percent. Official development finance rises but remains low. The 1990s have seen particularly sharp declines in assistance from official creditors to Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and the Republic of Yemen. Official lending to the region is almost entirely in the form of grants and highly concessional loans. Net nonconcessional loans were negative in 1996.
Several countries improve their access to private finance.
While the volume of bond issuances by the region remains low, accounting for only about 7 percent of net flows in 1996, issuances in 1995 and 1996 compare favorably with the net repayments of bonds in 1990-94. Foreign direct investment rises but falls as a share of total private flows. Jordan and Lebanon are beginning to attract foreign direct investment, albeit at low levels. The rise in private-source debt finance has reduced the share of foreign direct investment in total private flows from 83 percent in 1991 to 35 percent in 1996. Portfolio equity flows rise.