From UNCTAD
Least Developed Countries Reports (the series from 1996)
The Least Developed Countries Report,
2008
Growth, Poverty and the Terms of Development Partnership
Overview[PDF,
23pp.,375KB]
Introduction
[PDF,
15pp., 355KB]
Growth, Poverty and the Terms of
Development Partnership
A. Note
B. What are the Least Developed Countries?
C. Acknowledgements
D. Contents
E. Abbreviations
F. Country classification used in this Report
Chapter 1
[PDF, 45pp., 858KB]
How Sustainable is LDCs’ Growth?
A. Introduction
B. Trends in economic growth
C. Trends in investment and savings
D. Trends in international trade
E. Trends in external finance
F. Trends in external debt
G. Conclusion
Chapter 2
[PDF, 49pp., 1261KB]
Trends in Poverty and Progress Towards the MDGs
A. Introduction
B. Trends in private consumption
C. Poverty trends
D. The growth–poverty relationship in the LDCs
E. Progress towards the MDGs
F. Impact and policy implications of soaring international food prices
G. Conclusions
Chapter 3
[PDF, 43pp., 474KB]
Changes in the Terms of Development Partnership
A. Introduction
B. Country ownership and the partnership approach to development
C. The transformation of the PRSPs
D. The Paris Declaration assessment of progress towards ownership
E. Processes weakening country ownership — policy formulation
F. Processes weakening country ownership — policy implementation
G. Processes weakening country ownership — the continuing problem of aid misalignment
H. Adverse consequences of weak country ownership
I. Practical policy mechanisms to enhance country ownership
J. Conclusions
Statistical Annex
[PDF, 38pp., 649KB]
Data on the Least Developed
Countries
A. Contents
B. Explanatory Notes
C. Abbreviations
D. Regional patterns
E. Annex Tables
| |
LDCs
Report 2008: Background Papers
From UNCTAD:
Least developed countries are achieving record rates of economic expansion,
but growth is failing to trickle down into significantly improved well-being for
the majority of their population. The Least Developed Countries Report 2008
argues that this results from the type of economic growth and development
strategy that these countries are following. In order to decisively reduce
material deprivation and embark on economic and social development, LDCs need to
adopt new types of development strategies that are nationally formulated and
owned. One of the elements of this change is to adopt management policies for
the official development aid they receive.
Economic expansion in the LDCs since 2000 has been stronger than in the
1990s. In 2005 and 2006, there was a further growth acceleration and the LDCs
together achieved the strongest growth performance for thirty years.
Rapid economic growth has been associated with a slow rate of poverty
reduction and progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The LDCs
as a group are unlikely to reach the goal of reducing the incidence of poverty
by half between 1990 and 2015. Most of these countries are also off track to
achieve most of the other MDGs. There is no evidence of a significant change in
trends in social development since 2000, after the adoption of the Millennium
Declaration and more socially-oriented policy reforms.
The LDCs remain very vulnerable to a growth slow-down as they are still
characterized by low levels of domestic resource mobilization and investment,
very weak development of manufacturing industries, high levels of commodity
dependence, weak export upgrading, rising food and oil import bills and growing
trade deficits.
Given this macroeconomic scenario and the pervasive poverty prevailing in
LDCs, these countries have been hit very hard by soaring international food
prices. In many of them the domestic price of some food staples has doubled.
This is compressing the budget of poor families, which spend 50 - 80 per cent of
their income on food. Therefore, the food crisis is likely to slow down - or
even reverse - the limited progress achieved so far towards reducing poverty and
malnutrition in LDCs.
The Report argues that the achievement of a more sustainable and inclusive
type of economic growth requires effective national development strategies,
which are supported by effective development aid and development-friendly
international regimes for trade, investment and technology. Enhanced country
ownership of national development strategies is critical for development and aid
effectiveness. In order to reach these aims, LDCs are advised to implement aid
management policies. These policies will allow aid to be more effective,
providing a more powerful contribution to development. The proposals are
critical to enhancing aid effectiveness and making the scale-up of aid work.
They link to the assessment of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness,
adopted in March 2005, which will take place in Accra, Ghana, in September
2008.
Africa, Least Developed Countries, Land-locked Developing Countries, Small Island Developing States
The Least
Developed Countries (LDCs), Land-locked
Developing Countries (LLDCs) and Small
Island Developing States (SIDS) are recognized by the United Nations as
categories that face special problems and accordingly need special attention
from the international community.
The Division for Africa, Least Developed Countries and Special
Programmes helps these countries to derive the greatest possible
benefits from this recognition, in particular, to make the most effective use of
the special international support measures that are extended to them to reduce
their marginalization from the global economy.
|
|
|
