Special Theme: Financing the SDGs and IPoA for LDCs
The world’s 47 Least Developed Countries (LDCs) are facing significant challenges in implementing the Istanbul Programme of Action (IPoA) and the Sustainable Development Goals, according to the latest edition of the State of the Least Developed Countries report by the United Nations Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (UN-OHRLLS). The fourth edition of the report focuses on the financing of the Istanbul Programme of Action (IPoA) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the LDCs.
Ahead of the IPoA’s 2020 deadline, the average GDP growth for these countries remains low at 3.8 per cent in 2015, the lowest rate in the past two decades and well below the 7 per cent target set by the IPoA and SDG 8. Although foreign direct investment (FDI) flows to the LDCs have increased significantly, there have been wide fluctuations in year on year levels; with an increase from US$41 billion to US$44 billion in 2015, followed by a decline of 13 per cent in 2016 to US$38 billion. These challenges are partly driven by the fall in commodity prices and the high vulnerability of LDCs to natural disasters and epidemics such as Ebola.