Introduction
As countries respond to the COVID-19 crisis, frontier digital technologies are unlocking new possibilities to build back better and to put countries back on the path to achieve the SDGs. This Frontier Technology Issue (FTI) focuses on the role of digital technologies to contribute to positive outcomes in three areas deemed important in the aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis: creating economic growth and decent work (SDG 8), combating the virus and improving public health and well-being (SDG 3), and providing high-quality education to all (SDG 4).
This FTI also discusses how digital technologies are widening disparities and are accentuating the digital divide in societies and…
Frontier Technology Issues: Can digital technologies put us back on the path to achieve the SDGs?
Introduction and overview
The COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing global recession are undermining fiscal and external balances in many countries. But even before the pandemic, financing emerged as one of the key challenges to Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) achievement. In their voluntary national reviews at the 2019 High-level Political Forum, many countries identified financing gaps as the major obstacle they are confronted with.
Developments in the last 8 months have only exacerbated this task. Confronted with significant spending needs for the immediate crisis response and investments in recovery, and a parallel and major drop in access to a wide range of financing sources, countries…
UN/DESA Policy Brief #87: Integrated national financing frameworks?a framework to build back better
The European Central Bank?s unconventional policies?is hyperinflation looming?
Monetary policy across the world has entered ever more uncharted territory over the past years. Gone are the times when changes in policy interest rates were the sole policy variable of public and financial market attention. Today, central bank announcements are as much or even more about unconventional policy tools?such as asset purchase programmes?than they are about interest rates. The European Central Bank (ECB) is no exception in this regard. In reaction to the COVID-19 crisis, it has initiated massive asset purchases, which come on top of similar such programmes over the past years and besides significant…
World Economic Situation And Prospects: November 2020 Briefing, No. 143
The COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing global economic crisis are on course to reverse years of gains in the reduction and alleviation of poverty, thus drastically undermining global efforts to meet the SDG deadline of eradicating extreme poverty by 2030.1 In the mid-2020 update of the World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP), UNDESA estimated that over 34 million people will be pushed into extreme poverty this year alone. This is already very much on the optimistic end of forecasts?the World Bank now predicts that between 71 million and 100 million people will be pushed into extreme poverty this year, erasing almost all progress made in the last five years in the fight against extreme…
UN/DESA Policy Brief #86: The long-term impact of COVID-19 on poverty
Public finances after COVID-19: is a high-debt, low-growth trap looming for developing countries?
The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered unprecedented policy responses around the world. Governments of developed and developing countries have taken extraordinary steps to halt the spread of the virus and limit the economic and social fallout from the crisis. In the face of rapidly declining private sector demand, public support in the form of monetary and fiscal stimulus has been vital to avert economic collapse. However, the massive interventions have left governments with record debt burdens and major fiscal challenges going forward.
The situation is especially precarious among developing…
World Economic Situation And Prospects: October 2020 Briefing, No. 142
When countries expressed their readiness to present their voluntary national reviews (VNRs) at the 2020 High-level political forum on sustainable development (HLPF) in September 2019, trends towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were uneven. There were some favorable tendencies globally.
In particular progress was being made towards eradicating extreme poverty, lowering child mortality rates, advancing gender equality in some areas or improving access to electricity in the poorest countries. These advances resulted in no small part from the impact of policies conducted by many Governments and their partners since 2015.
At the same time, many challenges remained, and even deepened…
UN/DESA Policy Brief #85: Impact of COVID-19: perspective from Voluntary National Reviews
The collapse of global trade and implications for developing regions
Global trade in goods and services tumbled in 2020
International trade sputtered to a halt in the first half of 2020, as the novel coronavirus pandemic prompted widespread lockdowns, curtailed factory output, disrupted transportation and depressed demand. Global merchandise trade shrank by 3 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2020, according to the World Trade Organization (WTO) (figure 1). Compared with the preceding quarter, trade volume shrank by 2 per cent in seasonally adjusted terms. Global services exports fell harder, by 7.6 per cent year-on-year in the same period and contracted by 7.3 per cent compared…
World Economic Situation And Prospects: September 2020 Briefing, No. 141
COVID-19 has been a tragedy, killing more than 775,000 people globally and directly impacting life and health, with over 21 million confirmed cases. The various containment measures are affecting hundreds of millions of people and their livelihoods. The aggregate effect at the national and global levels will persist for a long time.
COVID-19, and the measures to control it, has significantly slowed economic growth, increased unemployment, worsened inequality, and raised poverty and hunger in many countries around the world. The World Economic Situation and Prospects as of mid-2020 projected that the global economy will shrink by 3.2 per cent in 2020. The projected cumulative output losses…
UN/DESA Policy Brief #84: Achieving SDGs in the wake of COVID-19: Scenarios for policymakers
When world leaders adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in 2015, they committed to a shared vision to set the world on a sustainable path for people, planet, peace, partnership and prosperity. Almost one third of the way into the journey, at the SDG Summit held in September 2019, Member States recognized that global efforts were coming up short to deliver that transformational shift by 2030 and a renewed international commitment was needed to fulfill the promise to present and future generations. The year 2020 kickstarts the Decade of Action?a reaffirmation of the global commitment through accelerated efforts and sustainable solutions to the world?s biggest challenges,…
UN/DESA Policy Brief #81: Impact of COVID-19 on SDG progress: a statistical perspective
CDP Policy Review No. 10
By Daniel Gay and Kevin Gallagher
Bangladesh is one of the most successful least developed countries (LDCs). The country has made such strides that in 2021 the United Nations Committee for Development Policy will consider whether it should graduate out of the LDC category altogether. Like few others, Bangladesh took advantage of WTO flexibilities to build a vibrant pharmaceuticals industry that not only provides needed industrialization and employment but also gives access to essential medicines to millions of Bangladeshis as well as people in other developing countries and LDCs. LDC graduation would bring a loss of WTO exceptions, particularly in the intellectual…
The need to extend the WTO TRIPS pharmaceuticals transition period for LDCs in the COVID-19 era: Evidence from Bangladesh
Welcome to the United Nations
