Out of the 32 African nations which are designated by UN as Least Developed Countries (LDCs) Angola will be graduated into middle income ecomomies in the coming few years.
Out of the 47 LDCs globally, a total of 12 of them will be graduated into middle income countries in few years and except Angola the rest will be from Asia, Dr. Taffere Tesfachew a senior official of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development UNCTAD told APA on Monday.
Talking about the recently launched Least Developed Countries (LDCs) Report 2019, Dr. Taffere said out of the 47 LDCs, five of them fall under debt distress, which means they really have too much debt and are not in a position to pay back.
13 other countries including Ethiopia have been designated as at high risk of debt. They are not in debt distress yet but the potential is there for them to join if correction measures are not taken, Taffere said.
The report revealed that LDCs have increasingly resorted to debt financing, more than doubling their external debt stock from $146 billion to $313 billion between 2007 and 2017.
Currently, one-third of LDCs are in debt distress or at high risk of debt distress, becoming increasingly dependent foreign aid, remittances and foreign direct investment, the report noted.
The report recommended that LDCs, the world’s most impoverished nations, to proactively direct external finances to national development priorities.
For LDCs to attain the Sustainable Development Goals and escape aid dependency, they need external finance that is targeted at the structural transformation of their economies, the report said
There are 47 countries designated by the United Nations as least developed countries (LDCs) after their per capita income, human assets and economic vulnerability have been assessed.
Out of the 47 LDCs, 32 are found in Africa. According to the report, 17 and 9 LDCs are at moderate and low risk, respectively.
A country will qualify to be included in the list of LDCs if it meets the three criteria and is put into the LDCs status.
MG/abj/APA