SDG #8: Decent work and economic growth

The near-term global trade outlook is fraught with uncertainties amid new tariffs and other trade restrictions. While recent history demonstrates that the global trading system is resilient, often adapting by finding alternative channels for sustaining commerce, policy uncertainty could hinder this process by discouraging necessary investments.

Economic growth in landlocked developing countries (LLDCs) is expected to be steady in the near term but remains well below the average in the pre-pandemic decade. Substantial downside risks remain, including commodity price volatility, debt challenges, climate disasters and geopolitical tensions.

Given the strong interactions between domestic debt and the broader economy, policymakers must carefully weigh its associated trade-offs while determining the optimal debt structure to minimize chances of domestic debt default.

The world economy continues to face multiple crises, jeopardizing progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Although global economic growth outperformed expectations in 2023 with several large economies showing remarkable resilience, simmering geo-political tensions and the growing intensity and frequency of extreme weather events have increased underlying risks and vulnerabilities. Furthermore, tight financial conditions also pose increasing risks to global trade and industrial production.

Many MICs require international support to address current and long-term challenges. Eligibility criteria that rely only on income per capita limit available support ? including access to concessional finance ? without accounting for MICs? multidimensional development needs.

This short paper briefly describes the methodology of this new index and presents some empirical results. It also presents an extension that covers both export and import concentration.

Industrial and innovation policies are gaining additional traction, becoming crucial aspects of many governments? toolkits to support innovation, build resilience, and accelerate the green energy transition. There are, however, enormous disparities across economies in their capacity to implement industrial policies, particularly those to support science, technology and innovation.

Despite persistent monetary tightening by major central banks, labour market conditions in most developed economies remained robust in 2023. Low unemployment and high economic activity are accompanied with continuing, albeit moderating, labour shortages.

Development cooperation with middle-income countries (A/78/224)