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
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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.
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