Economic Development

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

Coronavirus-driven debt crisis threatens poor countries already at risk, says UN report

9 April 2020
Global

As governments struggle to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, billions of people living in countries teetering on the brink of economic collapse are being threatened further by a looming debt crisis, according to a new UN report released on Thursday.

Wang Zheng

Swift rebound for world trade still possible through joint action to thwart coronavirus

8 April 2020

Global trade in goods could fall by as much as a third this year due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, but a swift rebound in 2021 is possible if the world’s economic policymakers – working together – act immediately, the World Trade Organization (WTO) said on Wednesday. 

Giles Clarke

COVID-19: impact could cause equivalent of 195 million job losses, says ILO chief

8 April 2020
Global

The rapidly intensifying economic effects of COVID-19 on the world of work are proving to be far worse than the 2008-9 financial crisis, with cutbacks equivalent to nearly 200 million full-time workers expected in the next three months alone, the UN labour agency said.

UN Photo/Albert González Farran

COVID-19: The global food supply chain is holding up, for now

3 April 2020

The unfolding COVID-19 pandemic is so far having little impact on the global food supply chain, but that could change for the worse – and soon – if anxiety-driven panic by major food importers takes hold, the World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Friday.

IOM/Sascha Pimentel

FROM THE FIELD: Sunny days power a better life for displaced Nigerians

2 April 2020
Africa

Water boreholes powered by solar energy are helping to improve life for Nigerians displaced by conflict, according to the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM). 

UN News/Elizabeth Scaffidi

Low-skilled workers, developing countries at risk of steep economic decline as coronavirus advances

1 April 2020

The global economy could shrink by up to one per cent in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and may contract even further if restrictions on economic activities are extended without adequate fiscal responses, according to analysis released today by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA).

WFP/Wissam Nassar

Coronavirus pandemic threatens to plunge millions in Arab region into poverty and food insecurity

1 April 2020
Middle East

COVID-19 will be responsible for pushing a further 8.3 million people in the Arab region into poverty, according to a new policy brief issued on Wednesday by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA).

UN Photo/Mark Garten

UN launches COVID-19 plan that could ‘defeat the virus and build a better world’

31 March 2020
Global

The UN chief launched on Tuesday a new plan to counter the potentially devastating socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, calling on everyone to “act together to lessen the blow to people”.

©UNICEF/Vincent Tremeau

$2.5 trillion COVID-19 rescue package needed for world’s emerging economies

30 March 2020

The economic fallout from COVID-19 is likely to get “much worse” before it gets better for some six billion people living in developing economies, the UN said on Monday, in an appeal for a $2.5 trillion rescue package to boost their resilience to further hardship. 

UN News/Assumpta Massoi

‘Rapid deterioration’ in global investment flows as Coronavirus spreads: UN trade body

26 March 2020
Global

Foreign direct investment flows are liable to drop by 30 to 40 per cent during 2020, into next year, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, reflecting a far more severe economic blow that initially projected, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said on Thursday in its latest Investment Trends Monitor report.