Arab Spring countries

Question 1

Opening line

Answer 1

Corruption was cited as a key driver in the Arab

Spring protests and the capital flight which followed.

Question 2

Did corruption in Arab Spring lead to capital flight?

Answer 2

This corruption did not just involve petty bribery, but the widespread misuse of power by the countries’
elites, involving billions of pounds being stolen from state budgets and illegally siphoned out of the
economy. Eventually anger about this corruption resulted in protests and in many cases revolutions.
Throughout this period the MENA region saw massive amounts of capital flight, with individuals wishing
to place their assets in safe havens away from the instability faced by the region.
$8 billion is said to have left Egypt and Libya in the three months following the revolutions there.

Question 3

Any evidence that capital flight from the Arab Spring went into UK property?

Answer 3

In October 2012, following the Arab Spring, property
investment in London from countries including Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Israel and Jordan was
50 per cent higher than it had been previous year.

Research by Knight Frank showed how in 2015 as
a result of geopolitical instability in the region, with corruption as one of the driving forces, Middle Eastern
investment rose from 11 percent to 16 per cent in 2014-15