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World Economic Situation and Prospects: July 2025 Briefing, No. 191

Tariff shocks and graduation
from the least developed country category Background The Least Developed Countries (LDCs) category was created by the United Nations in 1971 to focus attention on a subset of developing countries that faced greater challenges to progress based on a multi-dimensional assessment. Membership in this category is reviewed triennially by an expert body of the United Nations, the Committee for Development Policy (CDP), which makes recommendations on graduation or inclusion based on development progress assessed against three criteria—per capita income, an index of human assets, and a vulnerability index encompassing environmental and economic risks —along with…
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Cover of World Economic Situation and Prospects: June 2025 Briefing, No. 190

World Economic Situation and Prospects: June 2025 Briefing, No. 190


Global macroeconomic outlook The global economic outlook as of mid-2025 has deteriorated notably, according to the latest World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) update. Global growth is now forecast to slow to 2.4 per cent in 2025, down from 2.9 per cent in 2024 and 0.4 percentage points below the January forecast (figure 1) This downward revision primarily reflects heightened trade tensions and intensified policy uncertainty, which are expected to strain global supply chains, raise production costs, and delay critical investment decisions, besides fuelling financial market volatility (figure 2).  According to UN DESA estimates, the effective tariff rate of the United…
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CDP Issue Brief No 2: Eradicating poverty effectively: concise, strategic data to tackle the greatest global challenge

In this second CDP Issue Brief, Sabina Alkire discusses the potential of data to catalyze poverty eradication and explains the importance of multidimensional poverty measures alongside monetary measures. She makes five pragmatic recommendations for the Second World Summit on Social Development (WSSD2) that would empower actors, improve the cost-effectiveness of interventions and make progress visible.
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World Economic Situation and Prospects as of mid-2025 Cover

World Economic Situation and Prospects as of mid-2025

The world economy is at a precarious moment. Heightened trade tensions, along with policy uncertainty, have significantly weakened the global economic outlook for 2025. Higher tariffs—resulting in a significant increase in the effective tariff rate in the United States of America—are likely to strain global supply chains, drive up production costs and delay critical investment decisions, while also contributing to financial market volatility. Global economic growth is now projected to slow to 2.4 per cent in 2025, down from 2.9 per cent in 2024, and 0.4 percentage points below the January forecast. The downward revisions in growth forecasts are broad-based, affecting both developed and…
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World Economic Situation and Prospects as of mid-2025
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World Economic Situation and Prospects: April 2025 Briefing, No. 189

Navigating through an inflationary world The current inflation landscape Inflation has once again become a central topic among academics, policymakers, and in the daily lives of citizens. For much of the past two decades, inflation remained relatively low and stable in most developed and developing economies, even as a few countries experienced high inflation amid economic and financial crises or macroeconomic mismanagement. Between 2000 and 2020, global inflation averaged 3.4 per cent, compared to 8.0 per cent in the 1980s and 7.1 per cent in the 1990s. Even in developing countries, where inflation is typically higher and more volatile, it followed a downward trend since the mid-1990s,…
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2025 CDP Report, ECOSOC and GA Resolutions

Report of the Committee for Development Policy (E/2025/33, Supplement No. 13)
عربي, 中文, English, Français, Русский, Español CDP excerpts on the report by theme New development contexts and pathways Convergence in human and social development Reviewing the framework for graduation from the least developed country category Enhanced monitoring of countries that are graduating or have graduated from the list of least developed countries ECOSOC resolution (E/RES/2025/L.9) on the Report of the Committee for Development Policy
عربي, 中文, English, Français, Русский, Español

2025 Monitoring Reports

Bangladesh Bangladesh Annual Country Report 2024 Bhutan Annual Report on Bhutan’s Smooth Transition Strategy (13th Five Year Plan) for Sustainable Graduation Cambodia Lao People's Democratic Republic Nepal Saõ Tomé and Príncipe Evaluation Report of the Graduation Process of São Tomé and Príncipe from the List of LDCs Senegal Rapport sur la Preparation de la Strategie de Sortie du Senegal de la Categorie des PMA Solomon Islands
CDP Issue Brief No 1 Cover

CDP Issue Brief No 1: Challenges to global trade growth in 2025

In the first number of the new CDP Issue Brief Series, Carlos Lopes looks at the challenges confronting global trade in 2025. The current trade landscape presents an increasingly complex and uncertain picture. A succession of shocks over the past 15 years has profoundly altered global trade dynamics, exposing vulnerabilities in supply chains, shifted policy priorities, and fueling geopolitical frictions. Addressing these challenges requires coordinated policy responses and a renewed commitment to multilateral cooperation to ensure inclusive economic growth.
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World Economic Situation and Prospects: March 2025 Briefing, No. 188

The outlook for international trade amid structural shifts and rising restrictions Trends and prospects for global trade The trajectory of world trade has been unsettled in recent years. Following the pandemic-induced contraction and subsequent recovery, merchandise trade volumes declined slightly in 2023, with only services trade contributing to modest overall growth. In contrast, 2024 saw a stronger rebound as world trade expanded by an estimated 3.4 per cent (United Nations, 2025). Merchandise trade growth gained momentum in late 2024, in part because importers accelerated inventory purchases ahead of potential trade restrictions (Zhang and others, 2025). With international trade once…
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CDP Plenary 2025

The Committee for Development Policy (CDP) held its 27th Plenary meeting from 24 to 28 February at UN Headquarters in New York. H.E. Mr. Robert Rae, Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations and President of ECOSOC, and Mr. Li Jinhua, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, addressed the CDP members during the opening session. The Committee addressed several issues related to “new development contexts and pathways”, focusing on financing for development, convergence in human and social development and trade as engine for sustainable development. The CDP also discussed challenges faced by least developed countries (LDCs) in the current external environment,…
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Report of the CDP (E/2025/33, Supplement No. 13) Opening Statement of H.E. Mr. Robert Rae Opening Statement of Mr. Li Jinhua