The IMF’s April 2025 Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa presents a clear warning: regional growth is slowing, debt pressures are mounting, and donor assistance is declining. Yet the report outlines critical opportunities particularly in domestic revenue mobilization, structural reform, and private sector activation that can shape a more resilient …
This edition of UNCTAD's Trade and Environment Review examines the physical impacts of climate change and their effects on developing country economies and trade; the vulnerabilities of developing countries to climate change; costs and finance for climate change adaptation; and finally, ways that developing countries can enhance their trade-climate readiness, …
Around the world, countries are developing economic recovery plans, recognizing that these plans must create jobs and stabilize the economy. Several countries are also embracing the idea of “building back better” with investments to deliver lasting social, economic, and environmental benefits. Governments are establishing economic recovery plans for the energy, …
Since the last session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development four years ago, fractures and fault lines have deepened across the world economy, compromising the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. These fractures include widening inequalities that have fuelled popular discontent with globalization, deepening digital divides and …
Mountains host about half of the global biodiversity hotspots and are home to a growing number of the world's hungriest people, according to a new study launched by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and partners to mark International Mountain Day 2020. The study conducted by …
The Debt-for-Climate Initiative (DCI) is an effort to provide comprehensive debt relief for eligible countries to generate fiscal space for climate action. The DCI aims at achieving maximum creditor and debtor participation. The DCI consists of three pillars. The first pillar involves debt-stock relief for countries with an unsustainable level …
This technical note presents an assessment framework for designing coronavirus disease (COVID-19) recovery interventions that are geared toward accelerating climate and disaster resilience and low-carbon development. The scale of the COVID-19 crisis and the associated size of the response mean that decisions governments make now will influence systems, create assets, …
The world in 2020 is in a state of flux. While much progress has been made globally over the past ten years in expanding access to, and adoption of, broadband infrastructure and services, significant challenges remain in tackling digital inequalities, addressing the current widespread impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and …
The State of Agricultural Commodity Markets 2020 (SOCO 2020) aims to discuss policies and mechanisms that promote sustainable outcomes – economic, social and environmental – in agricultural and food markets, both global and domestic. The analysis is organized along the trends and challenges that lie at the heart of global …
Even before COVID-19, fears were growing over developing country debt, which had surpassed US$8 trillion by the end of 2019. The pandemic has made the situation much worse as its economic impact pushes millions more women, children and men in these countries into poverty. This paper shows how, as part …
This report explores some of the thorniest water crises taking place across the developing world. In southern Iraq, severe water quality problems have triggered social unrest and violent protests. Recent droughts in India have prompted an exodus of farmers from the countryside in Maharashtra and dried up the reservoirs serving …
This report provides practical information, suggestions, and guidelines on Healthcare Waste Management (HCWM) and Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSWM) given the restrictions and limitations imposed by the ongoing pandemic, including lack of human resources, technologies, equipment, and funds. This report builds on existing and adhoc information rapidly extracted from existing …
The African Union’s Heads of State and Government in the 28th Extraordinary Summit that took place in January 2017 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, adopted the Programme of Action (PoA) for the Implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 in Africa. The PoA outlines how Africa aims to …
This new report from End Water Poverty and WaterAid, Common Purpose, Common Future, shows that the financing gaps for achieving universal access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene (SDG 6) and Agenda 2030—although large—can nevertheless be met. However, the resurfacing of past problems of indebtedness signals that new solutions are …
Global flows of foreign direct investment (FDI) will be under severe pressure this year as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. These vital resources are expected to fall sharply from 2019 levels of $1.5 trillion, dropping well below the trough reached during the global financial crisis and undoing the already …
This publication is the outcome of a joint project of UNCTAD and the Common Fund for Commodities (CFC) on landlocked developing countries entitled “Identifying Growth Opportunities and Supporting Measures to Facilitate Investment in Commodity Value Chains in Landlocked Countries”. Landlocked developing countries (LLDCs) face multiple development challenges. On the one …
This paper addresses the regulatory and policy environments conducive for e-commerce to thrive. In particular, as regulatory issues affecting e-commerce have become more prominent in recent regional trade agreements (RTAs), the paper seeks to investigate their role in setting the regulatory standard in this area. Indeed e-commerce- or digital trade-related …
This paper makes a set of estimates for the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on poverty incidence, intensity, and severity in developing countries and on the distribution of global poverty. This paper conclude there could be increases in poverty of a substantial magnitude—up to 400 million new poor living …
The foundations of the climate regime are under threat, with significant implications for developing countries. This set of essays identifies two main threats to the climate regime. The first is the growing importance of emissions traded across national borders, currently accounting for up to 38% of global emissions, with developed …
The Coronavirus crisis could result in a catastrophic loss of life in poorer countries and push half a billion more people into poverty. Countries like the Central African Republic have just three ventilators for almost five million people, and Malawi has only a quarter of the nurses needed to provide …
