Only an ambitious global plan and multilateral measures will return even the most vulnerable countries to a stronger socioeconomic position than they were in before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to UNCTAD’s Trade and Development Report 2020, to be released on 22 September.
The report warns that if austerity wins out again, then a “lost decade” will be unavoidable, spelling an end to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The key to success, the report argues, will be tackling a series of pre-existing conditions that were threatening the health of the global economy even before the pandemic hit.
They include hyper-inequality, unsustainable levels of debt, weak investment, wage stagnation in the developed world and insufficient formal sector jobs in the developing world.
Drawing lessons from the global financial crisis of 2008, the report argues that recovery and reform, at both the national and international levels, must go hand in hand if building back better is to move beyond sloganeering and become the lodestar of a more resilient future.
Journalists with access to the UNCTAD virtual newsroom may download the press release and the new UNCTAD report.
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After the lifting of the embargo, documents related to the report will be available on the main UNCTAD website.
For further information or to request interviews with UNCTAD experts, please contact the UNCTAD Press Office (+41 22 917 5549/8038, unctadpress@unctad.org).
