Of course, that's not unique to MENA - quite the contrary, it's pretty typical globally. But MENA business community is really terribly provincial.

Not only that, but in a few MENA places, your choice is basically either have a wasta boy on board or you don't proceed with your project. Of course, many chose not to go with their project because of the wasta guys' unreasonable greed, which not only is a development killer as you mention, but also a terribly stupid counter-productive attitude from even the wasta guys perspective as I previously said...

In this case, there are alternatives for to my wasta boy, so he got fucked.

Fucker, cost me fees.

You know, I've seen first hand quite a few cases - and could report second hand from very reliable sources tens of other similar cases - where entrepreneurs would simply shut down their successful business because of this. Some would move out of country, others would put their capital into less attention attracting, less risk/growth/return, more long term frozen assets (mainly real estate) and live as rentiers. The worst in those cases where you lack alternatives is not only that your choice is have them on board or forget about your project, it's that even when you have them on board, you have no garantee that they won't come back and tell you they want more. So not only you have to deal with their private tax, but you basically can't make any realistic forecast about your investment.

This is the first thing I have in mind when I think about how countries like the US can help. Keep their SOBs at bay when it comes to business, or at least, try to keep them reasonable - teach them, pressure them, whatever, the point is, have them set clear, stable rules for business and abide by them. We'll then take care of the rest.