Arab LDCs: Development Challenges and Opportunities (ESCWA)

Four member States of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) are classified as LDCs: Mauritania, Somalia, the Sudan and Yemen. The latter three are also plagued by conflict and face chronic challenges in meeting the Istanbul Programme of Action (IPoA) graduation criteria from the LDC category. Attempts by these governments to build sound systems of governance that would make their economies more resilient have been hampered by conflict and external shocks such as the global financial, food and oil price crises, weak human, technological and institutional capacities, limited technology transfer, a lack of domestic resources, inequality, and more recently the socioeconomic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. These factors together induce a vicious cycle of low productivity and investment and ultimately low levels of human development. The present report provides an analytical overview of the progress and challenges faced by Arab LDCs, with a focus on the special vulnerabilities these countries are experiencing due to conflict and political instability. This report also builds on the lessons learnt from the IPoA decade to provide key findings and recommendations for the next decade which will be launched in Doha, Qatar in January 2022. The aim is to build back better, avoid pitfalls of the past decade and take advantage of the momentum presented by the implementation decade of the 2030 Agenda. Supported by the Saudi Development and Reconstruction Program for Yemen. Available also in Arabic at https://publications.unescwa.org/projects/aldcs/index-ar.html