ECONOMIC VICIOUS CIRCLE TRAPPING THE WORLD’S POOREST COUNTRIES MUST BE REVERSED IF NEW DEVELOPMENT GOALS ARE TO BE MET, SAYS UNCTAD REPORT

15 January 2015

Geneva, 19 November 2014 – UNCTAD’s Least Developed Countries Report 2014 says that the international community must learn from the failure of most of the poorest countries to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) despite registering strong economic growth – a phenomenon the Report dubs the "LDC paradox".

The report, says that world’s 48 least developed countries (LDCs) are the battleground on which the post-2015 development agenda will be won or lost: its success will depend on action by the international community and the LDCs to structurally transform their economies and break the vicious circle of human and economic development that has trapped these countries in poverty.

The "LDC paradox" arises from the failure of their economies to achieve changes in their economies despite having grown strongly as a result of strong export prices and rising aid flows.

Subtitled "Growth with Structural Transformation: a Post-2015 Development Agenda," the report highlights key policy priorities as part of a post-2015 development agenda for LDCs. The core of this agenda should be a virtuous circle between economic and human development, reversing the vicious circle currently trapping LDCs, the report says.