United Nations Least Developed Nation Class – Curse or Boon? — World Points
SYDNEY, September 21 (IPS) – The UN Basic Meeting will quickly vote – most probably favourably – on Bangladesh’s request to postpone the nation’s commencement from the UN’s Least Developed Nation (LDC) class, at present scheduled for November this yr. The request for a 3-year extension was endorsed by the ECOSOC following the advice of the UN’s Committee for Improvement Coverage (CDP).
It’s extremely probably that the extension can even be justifiably granted to Nepal and Lao Folks’s Democratic Republic (Lao, PDR) – the 2 different international locations scheduled to graduate with Bangladesh, given the quick deteriorating international financial state of affairs and up to date pure catastrophe in Nepal. In actual fact, the identical argument for an extension could also be admissible to all potential graduating international locations, akin to Solomon Islands (2027), Cambodia (2029) and Senegal (2029).
Nonetheless, this raises some severe questions concerning the LDC class itself and the successive 10-year assist programmes for LDCs.
The background
The United Nations established the LDC class in 1971 for low-income international locations going through extreme structural obstacles to sustainable improvement and to direct particular worldwide assist towards them akin to preferential market entry, monetary help, and technical cooperation. The concept of a particular class for low-income, structurally weak international locations originated within the first session of the United Nations Convention on Commerce and Improvement (UNCTAD) in 1964.
For the reason that creation of the LDC class, the UN organised 5 worldwide conferences, the primary being in 1981, to attract up complete ten-year frameworks for helps with particular objectives. The present programme is the Doha Programme of Motion (DPOA) for the Decade 2022–2031, preceded by the Istanbul Programme of Motion (IPOA) for the Decade 2011–2020.
The choice to determine a separate LDC class was undoubtedly commendable. The worldwide consensus across the complete motion programmes additionally mirrored the goodwill of the worldwide group.
Nonetheless, not one of the programmes may scale back the vulnerability of LDCs. The variety of LDCs steadily elevated from the 1971 listing of 25 international locations, reaching a peak of 51 international locations in 2003. The quantity now stands at 46, nonetheless almost double that of the unique listing. Solely 9 international locations exited the listing – one, Sikkim, by means of India’s annexation in 1975.
Though the inclusion of newly unbiased international locations partly explains the lengthening of the LDC listing, one can not keep away from the judgement of an general failure of the worldwide group’s good-intentioned programmes. That is particularly so in mild of the event successes of nations which didn’t be part of the group regardless of their eligibility.
The Reckoning
The failure grew to become staggering by the point the worldwide group met in Istanbul in 2011. After 4 a long time for the reason that particular LDC class was created, solely three international locations – Botswana, Cabo Verde and Maldives – exited the group. Moreover, the post-graduation expertise has been disappointing.
For instance, life-expectancy in Botswana, the primary nation to exit the LDC group, declined from 61.6 years in 1988 to 50.08 years in 2003, whereas it stays one of the unequal international locations on this planet, holding the ninth highest revenue Gini coefficient globally. Botswana, though hailed for macroeconomic stability, failed to remodel structurally with the share of producing hovering beneath 6% of GDP, and it stays extraordinarily susceptible to fluctuations in worldwide commodity markets, particularly diamond. Thus, development has declined considerably for the reason that mid-2000s and the unemployment price has elevated to very excessive ranges, round 26%.
Due to this fact, the core objectives and targets of the IPOA included:
- Allow half of all LDCs to attain commencement standing by 2020.
- Attain sustained, equitable, and inclusive financial development of at the very least 7% yearly.
- Strengthen schooling, well being, and diet.
- Construct productive bases and diversify economies to generate first rate jobs, particularly for youth
Sadly, solely 6 international locations – Maldives, Samoa, Equatorial Guinea, Vanuatu, Bhutan and São Tomé and Príncipe graduated – throughout 2011-2024, and three international locations – Bangladesh, Nepal and Lao PDR – grew to become eligible to graduate this yr. Once more, the expertise isn’t very encouraging for the graduated international locations, whereas the worry of commencement has gripped the international locations quickly to graduate.
In 2021, UNCTAD concluded that fifty years of LDC expertise is “sobering”. It discovered that half of the LDCs fell behind the remainder of the world by way of per capita revenue and different dimensions of improvement. Therefore, the financial hole between these international locations and the remainder of the world has widened during the last 50 years.
Rejecting “LDC insult”
Zimbabwe, a land-locked nation, rejected the UN’s advice to be categorised as a LDC in 2006 regardless of going through extreme financial hardships. Zimbabwe seen the UN advice “to be downgraded to LDC standing” as an insult, whereas the neighbouring land-locked Zambia was among the many first group of nations categorised as an LDC in 1971.
When Zimbabwe’s per capita GDP plunged to USD341 in 2008, resource-rich Zambia’s per capita GDP was round USD1,376. At this time, after greater than half a century as an LDC, the per capita GDP of Zambia, one of many world’s main producers of copper, cobalt, and semi-precious gems like emeralds, is round USD1,318, whereas Zimbabwe’s per capita GDP recovered inside a decade to round USD3,445 in 2017.
Vietnam, popping out of 1 / 4 century lengthy devasting battle in 1975, going through the problem of unifying the nation through the worst international financial state of affairs with a paltry per capita revenue of round USD85, selected to not be part of the LDC group. As a substitute of help dependence, it opted for the commerce and funding path to improvement. At this time, its per capita GDP is roughly USD5,066, whereas Bangladesh which joined the LDC group in 1975 with a per capita revenue of round USD230 may handle to lift its per capita GDP to roughly USD2,960.
The Republic of Korea (ROK), one of many poorest international locations of the world within the Nineteen Sixties, may additionally be part of the LDC group in 1971 when it was created; but it surely didn’t. Sustaining its coverage independence and selecting the commerce and funding route, ROK has grow to be a full-fledged developed nation in 1996 (member of OECD) inside three a long time. It managed to extend its per capita GDP from USD158 in 1960 to USD36,227 in 2025.
What could have gone mistaken?
UNCTAD attributed the “sobering” expertise to the LDCs’ incapability to take advantage of worldwide assist measures (ISMs) strategically to develop their productive capability. Others provided totally different causes akin to failure to grasp the complicated improvement course of and admire the hazards related to elevated integration of structurally weak economies to the quickly altering international financial system.
Add to those, complicity. International locations becoming a member of the group took ISMs as assured; they didn’t take severe steps to mobilise home assets, diversify their economies and develop markets. Take the case of Bangladesh, a rustic thought to be the most effective utiliser of ISMs.
Bangladesh’s tax-GDP ratio is dismally low, experiencing a decline from a peak of round 10% to round 7%. Its ready-made garment (RMG) sector’s dominance elevated from round 67% of export earnings in 2018 when the nation first met the commencement standards to round 85% by 2025 whereas it ought to have been declining because the commencement deadline was approaching.
Bangladesh has additionally did not diversify its export markets away from the EU and the USA, accounting for near 80% of RMG exports. It doesn’t have any significant commerce settlement with any nation or buying and selling bloc, whereas Vietnam has 17 bilateral FTA and is a member of Progressive Settlement for Trans-Pacific Partnership in addition to Regional Complete Financial Partnership, the world’s largest free commerce settlement, masking roughly 30% of worldwide GDP.
Sarcastically, the sector that propelled Bangladesh’s industrialisation, made the nation extra susceptible. Worst, too large to disregard, the RMG sector has captured Bangladesh’s political and coverage area. The CDP’s advice in favour of Bangladesh’s extension request has been made topic to the nation’s dedication to reforms. Nonetheless, political will for reforms could waver when the state is captured by a dominant sector.
Curse or Boon?
Thus, what was presupposed to be a boon, for a lot of LDCs, the class has grow to be a curse, trapping them in a perpetual state of underdevelopment and vulnerability. It suits the narrative of William Easterly’s The White Man’s Burden; sadly, the worldwide group could really feel burdened and grant an extension to the “fearful” LDCs even when its “good-intentioned” efforts have produced so little good.
Anis Chowdhury, Emeritus Professor, Western Sydney College (Australia). He held senior UN positions in Bangkok and New York and served as Particular Assistant to the Chief Advisor for Finance (with the standing and rank of State Minister) within the Professor Yunus-led Interim Authorities. E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]
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