Launch of the UNCTAD LDC Report 2016

Maseru.- The LDC category was created in 1971 largely to target international support on those countries that most need it. But global poverty is increasingly concentrated among this group of 48 countries, which are falling further behind the rest of the world in terms of economic development, according to a UN report to be released on 13 December.

The Report entitled "The Path to graduation and beyond: Making the most of the process" highlights the inadequacy of international support measures to LDCs' developmental needs and calls for improvements. It also outlines priorities for LDC governments aimed at moving from "graduation strategies" to "graduation-plus strategies" that seek to deliver graduation with momentum.

Graduation itself is only a first step towards long-term development for LDCs. Confronting the challenges that lie further ahead requires what the Report calls "graduation with momentum" - a process of structural change to increase the productivity of their economies that many of the countries projected to graduate will not achieve.

UNCTAD's The Least Developed Countries Report 2016 says that a global goal to halve the size of this group by 2020 will be missed unless the international community takes more action. Looking ahead, the Report makes projections on how many countries are likely to qualify for graduation by 2020, and thereby gauges the chances of meeting the global goal.