[ad_1]
The COVID-19 pandemic is likely to cause the worst economic crisis in decades among least developed countries, a leading UN economist said Thursday, warning that more than 32 million people worldwide could return to extreme poverty due to of the effects of the health crisis.
“We expect absolute poverty rates to rise by 32 million and extreme poverty rates in these countries will rise from 32.5% to 35.7 this year.” Mukhisa Kituyi, UNCTAD Secretary General, said during a virtual press conference.
According to the United Nations, 1.06 billion people live in 47 least developed countries (LDCs), which represent less than 1.3% of global economic turnover.
The agency defines extreme poverty as an income of less than $ 1.90 per day.
Many countries around the world have been forced to shift their financial focus to fighting COVID-19, sometimes impacting funding for projects aimed at poverty alleviation and development.
Kituyi noted that the countries that had invested the most in increasing production capacity were the ones likely to withstand the global recession.
Production capacity development had been “too small” in most of the least developed countries which are now “lagging behind” in other developing countries, he explained.
“The structural transformation in less developed countries has been limited to a handful of countries such as Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal and Rwanda. Only in this small handful of LDCs have we experienced sufficient industrial growth and expansion of modern service sectors, leading to greater labor productivity gains. “
He also noted that most LDCs in Africa and Haiti have seen much smaller structural changes, where agriculture and other traditional activities are likely to see low levels of economic growth and lead to poor improvements in living standards. of people.
Kituyi’s comments came as the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases globally exceeded 64.57 million with a death toll exceeding 1.49 million, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Related Articles
