SDG #8: Decent work and economic growth

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

There is an urgent need for channeling long-term risk-tolerant finance towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. The paper argues that National Development Banks (NDBs) and Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) can play a crucial role in mobilizing the needed capital.

A massive gap in investment and the adoption of low-carbon technologies between the developed and developing countries persist, threatening the urgent need to accelerate the energy transition as well as the achievement of the SDGs.

Higher domestic food prices are a major driver of food insecurity, especially for poor households whose incomes are stagnant or declining. Countries that already faced protracted food crises before the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine have been the most affected by the recent food price increases.

The inevitability of preparing for a future with an older population adds to the urgency with which countries need to improve how they prepare young people for the jobs of today and the future. Without a large boost in labour productivity, the potential economic benefits due to an influx of young workers will remain unrealized at the scale needed for such a future.

Microchips are central to modern industries, ranging from consumer goods, industrial production to national defence. While chip supply shortages, notable during the pandemic, have now largely eased, this has been uneven across user sectors.

Medium-term growth prospects are clouded by scarring from the pandemic, the ever-worsening impact of climate change, and structural macroeconomic challenges, such as anaemic investment and mounting debt vulnerabilities.

The world economy is in the doldrums, with weak economic growth, stubborn inflation and rising interest rates in the major developed economies clouding the near-term economic outlook. Legacy effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the protracted war in Ukraine, exacerbating effects of climate change are impeding a rebound of global growth.

As we enter May 2023, the global economic situation remains highly uncertain amid an extraordinary confluence of recent shocks that have affected countries across the world.