The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
STORYLINE
UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) today released its “Trade and Development Report 2024: Rethinking Development in the Age of Discontent”.
At a moment of low growth, high debt, weak investment and trade, and economic volatility, UNCTAD calls for a new approach to development thinking
The report highlights that despite opportunities for developing countries due to growth in South-South trade and demand created by minerals driving the green transition, developing countries face mounting challenges in navigating a sluggish global economy.
Multilateral action and revised international financial architecture are essential for addressing these challenges and supporting sustainable, inclusive growth.
UNCTAD's report underscores the emergence of a "low normal" in global economic growth, with rates projected to remain at just 2.7% for 2024 and 2025, down from an annual average of 3.0% between 2001 and 2019. This is a stark contrast to the 4.4% average growth seen in the years leading up to the global financial crisis.
For developing economies, this slowdown is more acute. While they grew at an impressive 6.6% during 2003-2013, their average growth has since fallen to just 4.1% between 2014 and 2024. Excluding China, the picture is even bleaker: growth in the Global South has averaged only 2.8% over the last decade.
At the same time, developing countries have seen their debt burdens swell by 70% between 2010 and 2023, putting many at risk of austerity measures that could undermine progress toward inclusive development.
Production date: 29 October 2024
Creator: UNCTAD
Subject topical: ECONOMICS
Corporate name: UN TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT – UNCTAD
TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT REPORT 2024 – UNCTAD calls for a "rethink" of development strategies
UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) launched today the 2024 Trade and Development Report calls for a fundamental rethink of development strategies amid a global slowdown and rising social discontent.
DESCRIPTION
STORY: UNCTAD / UN TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT REPORT
TRT: 02 :50
SOURCE: UNCTAD
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
WEBSITE: https://unctad.org/tdr2024
DATELINE: 29 OCTOBER 2024, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
1. Wide shot, exterior, Palais de Nations
2. Med shot, press room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Rebeca Grynspan, UN Trade and Development Secretary-General : « We are in a global economy where, although we celebrate the possibility of a soft landing, what we are saying is that we are landing on the wrong runway. We are landing in a framework of slow growth, high debt, weak investment, and the risk of fragmented trade, which is the basis for the widespread discontent we see affecting both developed and developing nations. »
4. Wide shot, speaker on screen, journalist, photographer
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Rebeca Grynspan, UN Trade and Development Secretary-General : « The report we share with you today calls for thinking about development policies with much more focus on the interlinkages between the global economy, global trade, and geopolitics. We call for reform of the international financial architecture through the revival of financial investment and trade dynamism for developing countries »
6. Wide shot, press room
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Rebeca Grynspan, UN Trade and Development Secretary-General: « Global growth is at a new low normal with developing nations facing the hardest and harshest impacts. The global economy is projected to grow at just 2.7% for 2024 and 2025. That is significantly lower from the rate that we had in the era pre-pandemic. »
8. Med shot, photographer
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Rebeca Grynspan, UN Trade and Development Secretary-General: « Debt in developing countries has surged by over 70% from 2010 to 2023.”
10. Med shot, control room
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Rebeca Grynspan, UN Trade and Development Secretary-General: « Rising debt has left many developing nations with very limited fiscal space, making structural reforms to boost productivity and resilience more difficult for their weakening their growth prospects. As we have said before, countries face impossible choices between servicing the debt and investment in development and economic transformation.”
12. Various shots, speaker, photographer, journalist
Speakers:
- Rebeca Grynspan, UN Trade and Development Secretary General
- Anastasia Nesvetailova, UNCTAD, Head, Macroeconomic and Development Policies Branch, Division on Globalization and Development Strategies
Similar Stories
1
1
Edited News | UNMAS
The deadly legacy of conflicts old and new from Gaza to Sudan and beyond continues to kill and maim civilians on a near-daily basis, mine action workers said on Wednesday, as they appealed for greater support for their lifesaving work in a context of deep funding cuts.
1
1
1
Press Conferences | UNMAS
Protecting people from mines and other explosive ordnance in complex settings
1
1
1
Press Conferences | UNODA
Twenty-Second Meeting of the States Parties to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction
1
1
1
Edited News | WMO , UNICEF
Asia: Lives upended in cyclone disasters, ‘extreme’ rainfall on the rise - UN agencies
Across southeast Asia, record-breaking rains and flooding caused by back-to-back tropical storms have claimed hundreds of lives and brought devastation and displacement upon entire communities, UN agencies said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Press Conferences | ITU , UNDP , UNHCR , WMO
Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired a hybrid press briefing, which was attended by the representatives and spokespersons of the United Nations Development Programme, the World Meteorological Organization, the United Nations Refugee Agency, the United Nations Children’s Fund, and the International Telecommunication Union.
1
1
1
Press Conferences | UNIDIR
Landmine Monitor 2025 report launch
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
At the bi-weekly press briefing in the Geneva on Friday the UN Human Rights Office raised grave concerns about the recent constitutional amendments adopted in Pakistan.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
At the bi-weekly press briefing in Geneva, UN Human Rights Spokesperson made the following comment on the most recent killings in the occupied West Bank yesterday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
At the bi-weekly press briefing in the Geneva on Friday the UN Human Rights Office raised concerns about the military-controlled election in Myanmar, which starts next month and will be conducted in an atmosphere rife with threats and violence putting the lives of civilians at risk.
1
1
1
Press Conferences | OHCHR , ICRC , UNCTAD
Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired a hybrid press briefing, which was attended by the representatives and spokespersons of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Refugee Agency.
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | UNAIDS
World AIDS Day 2025: Overcoming disruption, transforming the AIDS response
1
1
1
Edited News | UN WOMEN
Gaza women are ‘last line of protection’ for their families amid attacks, hunger and harsh winter – UN Women
Women in Gaza are ensuring their families’ survival “with nothing but courage and exhausted hands” while violence continues and essentials remain in short supply, the UN’s gender equality agency warned on Tuesday.