The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
Press Conferences | UNCTAD
UNCTAD Press conference: Economic Development in Africa Report - 14 July 2022
African countries are urged to diversify their exports to better survive economic shocks such as the current global crises which are the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine. This is one of the key findings of the Economic Development in Africa Report 2022 published today by the UN’s leading institution dealing with trade and development (UNCTAD) in Geneva.
“The report makes clear the great potential for African countries to transform their economies through services, supporting the continents long standing economic diversification goals, boosting productivity and development”, said Rebeca Grynspan, UNCTAD’s Secretary General while speaking at a press briefing at the United Nations.
Despite decades-long efforts to diversify, 45 out of the continent’s 54 countries remain dependent on exports of primary products in the agricultural, mining and extractive industries.
“In 2022 for the first time in more than 25 years, most of the African countries experienced a recession”, resumed Ms. Grynspan. “This fall in economic activity produced a disproportionate effect on the poorest and most vulnerable segments of the population”.
The report entitled "Rethinking the Foundations of Export Diversification in Africa: the Catalytic Role of Business and Financial Services" outlines how African countries can rethink efforts to diversify their economies. According to UNCTAD’s Secretary-General, the continent has enormous potential to break commodity dependance and ensure its effective integration into high-end global value chains.
“This is a continent with huge potential, the African Continental Free Trade Area is a huge opportunity”. Ms Grynspan said. “But to really make good use of that opportunity, countries have to take policies to diversify, they have to go on scale, they have to integrate, to be able to more successfully, you know, reap the opportunities and the value added that the international trade can give to the countries”.
The African Continental Free Trade Area aims to create a single market for the continent’s 1.4 billion people and can boost export diversification.
As the world faces a cost-of-living crisis, 58 million people are just living above the poverty line in Africa and are at risk of sliding into poverty due to the combined effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
According to Ms. Grynspan, “a recent analysis by the UN Global Crisis Response Group on Food, Energy and Finance which analyses the global economic shocks caused by the war in Ukraine, indicates that Africa, and especially sub-Saharan Africa, is now one of the worlds’ most exposed regions to the current crisis”.
The report said that information technology and financial services cold be a game changer for Africa. But at the moment they account for only 20% of the continent’s services exports.
“The analyses we are sharing today provides convincing evidence that high value services, especially high intensity ones in ICT and finance are often the missing link that explain why diversification has not been achieved in the continent”, saidthe UNCTAD chief.
The report outlined how technologies can improve access to diverse and competitive markets both within and outside the continent and underscores the critical role of the private sector. This includes small and medium enterprises (SME), which account for about 90% of firms on the continent and employ around 60% of its workforce.
UNCTAD’s Director for the Division for Africa and the Least Developed Countries, Paul Akiwumi, explained that “this report outlines how technology can contribute in two ways to the diversifying economy: One, to support the diversification of the commodity sector as we know the traditional sector, and the second is to support small and medium size enterprises (SME)”.
UNCTAD also calls on countries to tackle other hurdles facing African SMEs, such as poor integration to regional and global markets to compete with large public and private firms.
-ends-
STORY: Report launch “Economic Development in Africa 2022” - UNCTAD
TRT: 3 mins 37s
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 14 July 2022, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
- Wide shot, UN Geneva flag alley.
- Wide shot, Press room, UN Geneva.
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH): Rebeca Grynspan, UNCTAD Secretary General: “The report makes clear the great potential for African countries to transform their economies through services, supporting the continents long standing economic diversification goals, boosting productivity and development”.
- Mid shot, journalists with masks listening to the press briefing
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH): Rebeca Grynspan, UNCTAD Secretary General: “In 2022 for the first time in more than 25 years, most of the African countries experienced a recession. This fall in economic activity produced a disproportionate effect on the poorest and most vulnerable segments of the population”.
- Wide shot, laptops in the foreground, speakers at the podium behind
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH): Rebeca Grynspan, UNCTAD Secretary General: “This is a continent with huge potential, the African Continental Free Trade Area is a huge opportunity. But to really make good use of that opportunity, countries have to take policies to diversify, they have to go on scale, they have to integrate, to be able to more successfully, you know, reap the opportunities and the value added that the international trade can give to the countries”.
- Close-up, pan down from journalist taking notes
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH): Rebeca Grynspan, UNCTAD Secretary General: “A recent analysis by the UN Global Crisis Response Group on Food, Energy and Finance which analyses the global economic shocks caused by the war in Ukraine, indicates that Africa, and especially sub-Saharan Africa, is now one of the worlds’ most exposed regions to the current crisis”.
- Medium shot, journalists listening
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH): Rebeca Grynspan, UNCTAD Secretary General: “The analyses we are sharing today provides convincing evidence that high value services, especially high intensity ones in ICT and finance are often the missing link that explain why diversification has not been achieved in the continent”.
- Medium shot, speakers at the podium
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH): Paul Akiwumi, UNCTAD Director, Division for Africa, Least Developed Countries: “Now this report outlines how technology can contribute in two ways to the diversifying economy: One, to support the diversification of the commodity sector as we know the traditional sector, and the second is to support small and medium size enterprises (SME)”.
- Close up, journalists holding the report in their hands
- Medium shot, participants listening to the briefing
- Medium shot, laptop in foreground and podium with speakers in the background.
- Medium shot, two laptop screens
- Medium shot, journalist taking notes
- Close up, journalist taking notes
- Medium shot, journalist taking notes with laptop, camera next to him
- Wide shot, Press briefing room with podium and journalists
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Press Conferences | OCHA , UN WOMEN , UNHCR , WFP , WHO , WTO , UNEP
OCHA – $160M CERF allocation to 12 underfunded crises; UNHCR – 5.8M refugee children remain out of school amid funding cuts; UN Women – Middle East escalation and food security among women/girls; WHO – Gaza supplies and overall situation; WFP – Yemen food insecurity and impact on global hunger ; UNEP - First International Conference of the Global Framework on Chemicals in Geneva | 16-20 November 2026
1
1
1
Press Conferences | UNHCR , WHO
Yemen's health system nears collapse amid conflict, causing rising casualties and medicine shortages.
1
1
1
Press Conferences | HRC
Update by the Expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice and Equality in Law Enforcement
1
1
1
Press Conferences | WIPO , WHO , UNICEF , UNHCR , IOM , WFP , FAO
WIPO Global Innovation Index 2026 launch and press conference, WHO Composition of influenza vaccines for the 2027 Southern Hemisphere flu season, UNICEF Yemen hunger and malnutrition; UNHCR Sudan displacement into Chad; IOM Ebola and population movements in DRC; WFP emergency food assistance in Nepal; and FAO food loss and waste.
2
1
2
Press Conferences | UNCTAD
Gaza reconstruction needs reach $71.5 billion as Palestinian economy and public finances face severe strain. Latest UNCTAD report documents the loss of decades of development gains, economic collapse in Gaza and tightening economic constraints in the West Bank.
The report identifies three immediate priorities: transferring withheld Palestinian revenues, safeguarding the banking system and aligning reconstruction support with the documented scale of damage and economic losses.
1
1
1
Press Conferences | HRC
Press conference on the situation of human rights in Nicaragua by the UN Group of Human Rights Experts
1
1
1
Press Conferences | ITU , UNHCR , WHO , WMO
YEMEN - UNHCR: Escalating conflict in Yemen could fuel more displacement, refugee movement
CLIMATE - WHO / WMO: Health and Climate impact of El Niño
1
1
1
Press Conferences | HRC , OHCHR
Mariana Katzarova discusses human rights in Russia as a UN Special Rapporteur.
1
1
1
Press Conferences | IOM , OHCHR , UN WOMEN , UNFPA , UNHCR , UNOPS , WHO
UN Geneva briefing: Yemen crisis worsens, urgent aid needed across multiple sectors.
1
1
1
Press Conferences | HRC
Press conference on the latest report of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to the UN Human Rights Council
1
1
1
Press Conferences | OHCHR
Victims Still Waiting: A Global Briefing on Transitional Justice Around the World
2
1
2
Edited News , Press Conferences | WMO
As world’s water reserves change, countries must prepare for a new reality: WMO
New data showing that rivers were at their lowest level for decades last year provides further evidence that the climate crisis is real and countries must act immediately to protect themselves from the increasing threat to communities and livelihoods, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Thursday.
The key findings from WMO’s State of Global Water Resources 2025 report covering the hydrological cycle and extreme events in the five-year period to last year:
- 2025 was one of driest years for river discharge in 35 years
- Past seven years have seen abnorfmal river flows
- Water storage on Earth’s land surface has decreased in past decade
- Widespread glacier loss across all regions for fourth consecutive year
- Asia and Africa are regions most affected by water-related disasters
- Water data availability has improved, but gaps remain in hard-hit areas
Highlighting the long-term decline in the Earth’s freshwater storage and glacier melt, WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo explained that the planet’s water reserves used to act as a planetary “savings account” that absorbed the occasional dry season, avoiding a water crisis. “One of the central stories of the 2025 report is what is happening to that savings account? And the simple answer is that we are depleting it,” she told journalists in Geneva.
Groundwater reserves are equally stretched and have been in decline since 2014, WMO’s report states, with nearly two-thirds of monitored wells worldwide showing levels lower than the historical norm and indicating a shift “further toward deficit…not recovery”.
“At the same time, we are seeing more water-related disasters,” Ms. Saulo said, while also stressing that the currently strengthening El Niño “will increase the risk of drought in some areas, and flooding in others”.
Glaciers disappearing
In 2025, for the fourth consecutive year, every major glaciated region on Earth lost ice mass, leading to short-term hazards including floods and long-term water insecurity, according to WMO.
Responding to a question about whether the changing global water cycle might have contributed to the deadly Nepal-China flooding disaster, Ms. Saulo explained that melting ice and rock was just one factor in the chain of events that ultimately sent a massive and deadly wall of water and debris downstream on 26 August, killing at least 1,367 people.
“You asked if it could happen again? Absolutely; the problem in this region is that there’s 63,700 glaciers at the last count,” she told a Press Conference in Geneva. “Even if you’re looking with remote sensing with satellites at these glaciers, you might see some faults, you might see some slight shifting, that does not mean necessarily catastrophic collapse. So, in order to plan for this, it’s very, very difficult. But the international community is looking very hard at ways in which we can bring people together to solve some of these monitoring issues.”
Data indicates that glaciers shrank between 2023 and 2025 with cumulative losses of 1,400 gigatonnes of water – or about one third of annual fresh water needs.
Every major glacier region on Earth lost ice for the fourth consecutive year.
“All 19 glacier regions around the globe lost ice; in Central Asia, Iceland, the Russian Arctic and western Canada and the United States, it was among the three worst years on record,” said Wayne Jenkinson, WMO’s Director of Hydrology and Cryosphere.
Some regions with smaller glaciers such as Central Europe, the Caucasus, the western Canada and the United States may already have reached “peak water”, Mr. Jenkinson warned.
“After this point, the glacier gives less meltwater each year simply because there is less ice left to melt. That matters for every community downstream that relies on water during hot, dry summers,” he explained.
Narelle van der Wel, WMO’s Head of Cryosphere Monitoring, Predictions and Services, stressed that while some further glacier loss is unavoidable, the eventual scale of the decline is not predetermined.
“Some glacier loss is inevitable, but total loss of glaciers is not yet inevitable,” she said, pointing to emissions reductions as central to limiting future losses.
Preparing for moving baselines
The report does not attribute every observed change to climate change alone. WMO says pressure on water resources and natural variability also contribute.
Mr. Jenkinson said governments need to prepare for “moving baselines” as historical patterns become less reliable.
“The situation 30 years ago is not where we are today,” he said. Countries, he added, need to prepare “for those changes that have really already arrived”.
ends