Despite a strong rebound of global foreign direct investment and remittance flows, many developing countries are left with competing priorities for limited fiscal space and are finding it harder than ever to recover economically. With the pandemic far from over and vaccine distribution grossly unequal across the globe, the re is a threat of a “two-tiered” COVID-19 pandemic recovery. With the global system facing a multitude of crises across the social, health, environmental and peace and security spectrum, there is an urgent need for scaled-up international cooperation focused on finding lasting solutions.

Finance

Based on most recent data, across approximately 130 economies, government revenue accounted for approximately 33 per cent of GDP on average in 2020. In addition, the average overall tax burden or revenue in the form of taxes was 25 per cent of GDP among advanced economies and 16 per cent of GDP among emerging market and developing economies.

Net official development assistance (ODA) flows amounted to $177.6 billion (current price) in 2021, a new peak, representing an increase of 3.3 per cent in real terms compared with 2020. This is equivalent to 0.33 per cent of Development Assistance Committee donors’ combined gross national income (GNI), up from 0.32 per cent in 2020 but below the target of 0.7 per cent of GNI for ODA. Since the Sustainable Development Goals were adopted in 2015, net ODA has increased by 20 per cent.

Global foreign direct investment flows showed a strong rebound in 2021, up 7 per cent to an estimated $1.65 trillion from less than $1 trillion in 2020 and surpassing their pre-pandemic level.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, remittance flows to low- and middle-income countries were projected to have grown by a strong 7.3 per cent to reach $589 billion in 2021.

Information and communications technology

The latest data show that uptake of the Internet accelerated during the pandemic. The number of users surged by 782 million to reach 4.9 billion people in 2021 or 63 per cent of the population, up from 4.1 billion people in 2019. Globally, in 2020, 62 per cent of men were using the Internet compared with 57 per cent of women.

Fixed broadband subscriptions continue to grow steadily, attaining a level of 17 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants on a global average in 2021. In the least developed countries, despite double-digit growth, fixed broadband remains a privilege of the few, with only 1.4 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants.

Growth in trade of environmentally sound technologies over 2015–2020 was 5 per cent which, while positive, represented a drop in the overall growth rate prior to the COVID-19 pandemic (the growth rate having been 8 per cent over 2015–2019). While the pandemic has had a negative impact on international trade, those countries with strong economies, large manufacturing and/or financial bases and a focus on innovation are increasing their investment and trade in environmentally sound technologies.

Trade

Tariff rates have remained unchanged amid the pandemic. The worldwide weighted tariff average remains stable at about 2 per cent. The latest figures from 2020 indicate that agriculture and clothing products continue to face the highest tariff rates at about 6 per cent, followed by textiles at 4 per cent and industrial products at 1.4 per cent.

In 2020, the share of least developed countries’ exports in global merchandise trade amounted to 1.03 per cent. The target of doubling the share of least developed countries’ exports by 2020 from its value of 1.03 per cent in 2011 has there fore not been met. The share of all developing countries’ exports in global merchandise trade reached 45.9 per cent in 2020, a share 0.6 percentage points larger than in 2015.

The special tariff treatment that developed countries offer to developing countries, small island developing States and least developed countries remains unchanged. This is equally true when data are analysed at a sectoral level. The average tariff applied to developing countries’ products has remained stagnant since 2011, highest for clothing and agriculture (both at 8 per cent) and textiles (5 per cent).

Data, monitoring and accountability

In 2021, 142 countries and territories reported having national statistical legislation compliant with the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics, up from 136 in 2020 and 107 in 2016.

In 2021, a total of 150 countries and territories reported implementing a national statistical plan, up from 132 in 2020, with 84 of the plans fully funded. The pandemic has delayed the development of new national statistical plans worldwide, meaning that many national statistical offices are implementing expired statistical plans which may not fully cover their evolving development objectives.

Between 2018 and 2019, ODA for data and statistics rose to $662 million. However, this amount is less than the commitment received in 2016 ($674 million). The overall trend of funding for data and statistics has remained stagnant in recent years, with only 0.3 per cent of total ODA dedicated to this area.

For the period 2016–2020, 148 countries have birth registration data that are at least 90 per cent complete and 154 countries have death registration data that are at least 75 per cent complete. Sub-Saharan Africa is the region with the lowest birth and death registration completion rates, followed by Eastern and South-Eastern Asia and Oceania.

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