Macroeconomic performance across the Arab countries tend to diverge between major oil exporting countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and other countries in the region, especially those inflicted by conflict. In recent years, heightened social unrest, political uncertainty and violent armed conflicts have contributed to a pronounced deterioration in the macroeconomic performance in a handful of countries including Syria, Iraq, Somalia, Yemen, Libya, Sudan and Palestine, and given that almost 29 million people, equivalent to 7.1 percent of the population, being forcibly displaced in 2017. With the oil price shock in 2014, several countries have had to take measures to maintain fiscal budgets under control, privatize national assets and facilitate private sector development away from the oil industry. However, despite recent modest growth, fiscal deficits are slowly declining, leading to a sharp increase in government debts.