Session documents

The course will focus on the structural transformation of least developed countries and how the COVID-19 global pandemic impacted the processes involved and have further reduced both the fiscal and policy space, in addition to partly reversing the progress previously made towards the SDGs. At the same time, there are still opportunities that would emanate from international cooperation and consensus, including debt relief, among other aspects, for LDCs to emerge from these economic crises and eventually graduate.

In this context the short course will be structured around three mains blocks: 1) provide an up-to-date assessment of LDC trends in terms of economic growth and structural transformation, contextualizing it in light of the emerging digitalization and servicification; 2) Outline the impact of COVID-19 on LDC productive capacities and potential output on the medium term; and 3) highlight concrete examples of companies adapting to the downturn in innovative ways (accelerated technological adoption, business diversification, etc.), discussing the main drivers of this process and their relationship with the incipient signs of structural transformation, that were taking place in several Asian and African LDCs prior to the crisis.

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