That compares well with global averages and pre-pandemic growth of about 3.2 percent.
Lower inflation
The UN body noted that this positive outlook for Arab nations should also coincide with a drop in inflation, which is expected to reach 5.4 percent next year.
Contributing factors include increased investment in sectors outside the oil industry, such as renewable energy plants.
At the same time, ESCWA said the Arab region remains “highly exposed” to external factors, especially given continued uncertainty over global tariffs and disruption to regional trade.
The data indicates production of 1.3 million barrels of oil per day this year across the region – where production is an economic pillar -, slightly above current global demand, meaning prices at the pump could fall.
India: Independent rights experts urge investigation into alleged deaths in custody and police violence
Two independent experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council have called on India to order urgent and independent investigations into reports of hundreds of alleged extrajudicial killings, torture-related deaths and thousands of injuries linked to police operations.
The Special Rapporteurs – who are not UN staff and do not receive any salary for their work – said they had received credible information pointing to a pattern of excessive and often lethal force, particularly in Uttar Pradesh and Assam.
Independent human rights experts call for urgent modernization of the Indian police.
Not sporadic – systemic
“These accusations paint a picture of police violence that is not sporadic, but systemic,” the experts said.
“There appears to be a systemic failure of policing to meet basic human rights standards.”
They expressed concern that minorities such as Muslims, Dalits and Adivasi (or Indigenous Peoples) were being disproportionately affected and warned that “silencing those seeking justice is incompatible with an open and democratic society.”
The experts urged reforms to align policing with international standards and said they had written to authorities, offering technical support as they continued to monitor developments.
The war between Ukraine and Russia now causes school closures even far from the front lines
To Ukraine, where schools have been forced to close far from the front lines as a direct result of the ongoing large-scale Russian invasion, the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, warned on Wednesday.
Data indicates that every two months last year, air raid alerts alone caused students to miss around 10 days of learning, while so far in 2026, more than 16 days have been lost due to power outages and lack of heat.
UNICEF says that in Ukraine’s frontline regions, at least 1,700 schools are suffering from power outages and heating problems.
Sustained blackouts
More than one in three schools in Dnipropetrovsk and one in five in Kharkiv also face sustained outages that “directly threaten continued and safe learning.”
According to the agency, nearly two million children have been affected by disruptions caused directly by intensified Russian attacks on energy infrastructure.
This includes kyiv, Zhytomyr, Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson, Mykolaiv and Odesa, where students have lost up to 88 percent of their learning time since mid-January, mainly due to power and heating outages.
UNICEF condemns new reports of children killed in airstrikes in Myanmar
The UN children’s agency UNICEF on Wednesday expressed deep alarm over new reports that at least five Burmese children have been killed and three others injured following recent airstrikes.
The deadly attacks hit Ponnagyun township in Rakhine state and Myinmu township in Sagaing region between February 23 and 24.
“Children and civilians are once again bearing the brunt of escalating hostilities, with attacks in Rakhine state reported to have hit homes and a busy local market in a village hosting displaced families,” the agency said in a statement.
Protect children
The ongoing fighting continues to displace children and affect their access to vital services, including healthcare, education and protection, the agency stressed.
“UNICEF is responding to the needs of conflict-affected children and their families across Myanmar,” while calling on all combatants in the bloody conflict that has ravaged the country since the 2021 military coup to “fulfill their obligations under international humanitarian law. Children must be protected at all times.”