The financial crisis which hit the global economy in the autumn of 2008 represents the first and most difficult challenge to the globalization process. The crisis, which began as a liquidity crunch, went on to severely affect global financial markets moved quickly to the real economy, hence transferring the global economic expansion into the deepest global economic recession since the 1930s. Moreover, the crisis has shaken confidence in the international financial system, which has, in turn, exacerbated its impact on the global economy. The Asian Development Bank estimates that global financial losses from the financial crisis amount to about US$ 50 trillion. Arab countries are expected to have lost at least about US$ 2.5 trillion as a result of falling market capitalization, bank assets, oil revenues and losses incurred by the sovereign wealth funds (SWF).

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