ABU DHABI. Oct 9: Arab states, their unemployment problems worsening after the Gulf War. need to create 2.5 million Jobs a year to face growth In their workforce, an official report said on Friday, according to AFP.

The number of Job seekers Is projected to grow by two per cent annually during the I990's to reach 99 million by the year 2000. when the population Is expected at 295 million, said the report by the Cairo-based Arab Economic Unity Council (AEUC).

This means there will be a demand of 2.5 million Jobs annually during this period." the report said.

Most Arab countries are already suffering from high unemployment rates due to economic problems caused mainly by political Instability and decades of state control of the economy. The problem worsened in some member states after hundreds of thousands of Arabs lost their Jobs In the Gulf during the war.

According to AEUC. which groups the Arab economy ministers. around two million Arab

workers lost their Jobs, mainly In Saudi Arabia. Kuwait and Iraq.

They Include 70.000 Egyptians. 345.000 Palestinians and Jordanians. 110.000 Syrians. 60.000 Lebanese and unspecified number of Sudanese.

More than 730.000 Yemenis were also expelled by Saudi Arabia after it accused Sanaa of sympathising with Iraq when it invaded Kuwait in 1990.

"Besides these, there were five million unemployed persons in 1990. including four million in Egypt. Morocco. Algeria and Sudan.' AEUC said.

The report did not say how

Arab states would face labour growth but many of them have launched reforms to tackle their economic difficulties like debt, unemployment, low Investments. budget deficits and a large import bill.

A recent report by the Abu S>habi-based Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) cited other reasons for the deteriorating unemployment problem, including a rapid population growth, a slowdown In Gulf economies after the end of the oil boom.