The gap between rich and poor nations is widening as measures agreed by many countries last year, including reforming the world’s major financial institutions, remain unfulfilled promises, a UN report has concluded.
The report evaluating the plan adopted in Seville, Spain, last June to reduce the gap and achieve the development goals of the United Nations for the year 2030 was released before next week’s spring meetings in Washington of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, the main financial institutions in the world that promote economic growth.
The managing director of the IMF, Kristalina Georgieva, said it was ready to improve global growth, but the Iran war has now darkened the global economic outlook.
This is a very dangerous time for international cooperation
Li Junhua, the United Nations under-secretary general for economic and social affairs, said that geographic tensions are intensifying the struggle of developing countries to attract funding.
“This is a very dangerous time for international cooperation, as geopolitical issues are increasingly shaping economic relations and financial policies,” he said.
The report pointed to increasing trade barriers and frequent weather-related shocks as well as widening the gap.
At last year’s meeting in Seville, the leaders of many countries in the world, but not the United States, unanimously adopted the Seville Commitment, which aimed to close the annual gap of 4 trillion dollars in development financing. It called for increasing investment in developing countries and reforming the international financial architecture, including the World Bank and the IMF.
