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Few of the Sustainable Development Goals are more critical than the fight to end extreme poverty by 2030. And yet that aim is now "out of reach," according to World Bank chief economist Indermit Gill. We take a look at that report today — what some are calling a “watershed moment.”
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Also in today’s edition: An African approach to pandemic preparedness, the U.S. treasury secretary weighs in on multilateral development banks, and what’s worrying the World Food Programme.
Going, going …
A new World Bank report has found that progress on fighting poverty has effectively ground to a halt, as global economic growth slows. While Russia's war in Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic get a lot of the blame, underlying this are other dynamics, too. Progress on poverty reduction has sputtered since 2014, reflecting the challenge of reaching people in the world's low-income countries.
"Poverty is now increasingly concentrated where it's much more difficult to actually reduce poverty," says Gill. The new report is the first since the bank revised the international poverty line to $2.15 from $1.90. The bottom line: Close to 600 million people will still be in extreme poverty by 2030, more than double the target set out in the Sustainable Development Goals. "The last years have been the worst years since we started to track poverty," Gill says. Failing to spur fair economic growth could lead to global instability, while also creating a less climate-resilient world, he adds.
The global development sector was quick to jump on the release, with takeaways from the likes of ONE Campaign CEO Gayle Smith and development economist Justin Sandefur.
Grain of truth
What’s front of mind for the World Food Programme’s chief economist? My colleague Teresa Welsh sits down with Arif Husain to find out.
Rice: Last month’s floods in Pakistan could have a big impact on a staple food for more than half the world’s population. Pakistan, previously the fourth-largest rice exporter, will soon become a net importer because so many fields were wiped out — straining global rice supply.
Fertilizer: If the fertilizer shortage is not addressed quickly, then Husain warns the food affordability crisis could quickly become a food availability crisis.
Transparency: Governments should be more transparent about the size of their reserves, he says, so there is an accurate accounting of how much of each crop is actually available.
Concentration: Staple crops such as wheat, corn, soy, and rice are highly concentrated in a few markets, creating global disruptions when problems hit one of those places. But even if countries were to diversify import bases, “it takes a couple of years,” Husain says.
WFP chief economist: 'We're worried' about rice prices (Pro)
+ Devex Pro members can also read about the outlook of two food and agriculture experts from the World Bank on the food price crisis and the bank’s short-term intervention to help the most vulnerable. Not gone Pro yet? Sign up and start your 15-day free trial to read both pieces.
MDB corner
The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund Annual Meetings kick off Oct. 10, and we read with interest European Investment Bank President Werner Hoyer telling Reuters that multilateral development banks will “use the opportunities of meetings in Washington over the next weeks in order to come up with a common offer” on climate action. Ahead of the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP 27, in Egypt in November, all eyes will be on climate-embattled World Bank President David Malpass who says that he prefers staff working on concrete projects rather than painstakingly negotiated joint declarations.
Follow my colleague Shabtai Gold’s coverage of the annual meetings next week — and send him tips at shabtai.gold@devex.com.
Not unrelatedly: It’s not every day that the U.S. treasury secretary gives a talk on “International Development and Evolving the Multilateral Development Banks.” So set your calendars for 11 a.m. Eastern Time today and follow the Center for Global Development event, as will Shabtai, who’s on the MDB beat for us.
Janet Yellen will apparently address “how the multilateral development banks (MDBs) must evolve so that development finance better addresses these complex and interrelated global challenges of the 21st century and continues to support investments for poverty reduction and sustainable, inclusive growth.”
Related op-ed: MDBs have options to remove barriers to global development
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An African approach
Dr. Ahmed Ogwell Ouma, acting director at the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, spoke to Devex on how the continent’s quest for greater self-reliance is unfolding — and what a more regional approach to preparing for pandemics might look like.
UNGA Decoded: Dr. Ahmed Ogwell Ouma on African health leadership
+ Catch up on all episodes of UNGA Decoded on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, YouTube, and Spreaker.
And sign up for Devex CheckUp, our free newsletter that brings you front-line and behind-the-scenes reporting on global health to receive its latest edition today.
In other news
As warring parties prepare for African Union-mediated peace negotiations, an airstrike in Ethiopia’s Tigray region Tuesday killed more than 50 people at a shelter for those displaced by the conflict. [Reuters]
An analysis by Carbon Tracker Initiative found 98% of the biggest polluters do not take into account climate-related risks when preparing financial reports, preventing efforts to get investors to put money toward decarbonizing the economy. [Bloomberg]
The Asian Development Bank has announced it will provide $2.5 billion in flood relief aid to Pakistan. [AP News]
Amid violence and insecurity, authorities reported one confirmed fatality and 54 suspected cases of cholera in Haiti. [Al Jazeera]
Shabtai Gold contributed to this edition of the Newswire.
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About the author
Vince Chadwickvchadw
Vince Chadwick is a contributing reporter at Devex. A law graduate from Melbourne, Australia, he was social affairs reporter for The Age newspaper, before covering breaking news, the arts, and public policy across Europe, including as a reporter and editor at POLITICO Europe. He was long-listed for International Journalist of the Year at the 2023 One World Media Awards.
