The global economy has been buffeted by a series of shocks, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and climate events. These have disproportionately affected low-income countries, reversing earlier gains in poverty reduction and exacerbating existing structural deficiencies.
The development architecture, with its focus on emergency funding and interventions, has proven inadequate in addressing the recurring and intensifying shocks faced by low-income countries. A shift toward uber-resilience, defined as building back a stronger capacity to anticipate, prepare for, and respond effectively to shocks, while also seizing opportunities for growth and development, is needed.
To achieve uber-resilience, the architecture for financing development must rethink its approach. A continuum between aid and market-based instruments should be created, ensuring that reforms and interventions effectively graduate low-income countries from aid dependency.
About the author
Rabah Arezki
Rabah Arezki is a former chief economist and vice president at the African Development Bank and former chief economist of the World Bank’s Middle East and North Africa region. He is also the former chief of commodities in the International Monetary Fund’s research department. He is a professor and research director at the CNRS-CERDI, a member of the FERDI's chair working group on the international architecture of financing for development, and a senior fellow at FERDI and Harvard Kennedy School.
