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Developing countries hit by overlapping crises, UNDP chief warns
UNDP said 22 of 26 countries surveyed see the crisis as a high or medium priority, with all expecting conditions to worsen.
On Friday, the United Nations Development Programme warned that rising energy costs, soaring borrowing rates, and a severe El Niño are pushing developing nations toward financial distress, with conditions nearing pandemic-era strain.
UNDP Administrator Alexander De Croo said the war in Iran has morphed into a global crisis affecting approximately 100 countries, leaving governments with depleted fiscal coffers struggling to shield citizens from oil price surges.
Twenty-Two of 26 nations surveyed by the UNDP rated the crisis as high or medium priority, while the strongest El Niño since 1950 threatens to plunge an expected 49 million more people into food insecurity by the end of 2027.
UNDP Chief Economist George Gray Molina said governments are rolling back subsidies as they fail to contain fiscal burdens, noting that bond market and oil price developments over the next 60 days will be crucial.
Annual International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings in Bangkok from October 12 to 18 will address these mounting challenges, though De Croo stopped short of calling for new debt relief measures.