General Assembly - UN Documents

A/CONF.216/PC/2
unequally shared between and within countries, many countries are not on track for
achieving key Millennium Development Goals, and most of the environmental
indicators have continued to deteriorate.
Economic
11. On the positive side is the acceleration of economic growth in developing and
emerging economies since the mid-1990s (see figure), especially in several large
developing countries that cover the majority of the world’s population. But this
pattern is far from universal. Sub-Saharan Africa has fallen further behind the other
regions in terms of per capita income, and the growth momentum also remains slow
in other least developed countries, landlocked countries and small island developing
States. The ongoing global economic crisis has substantially slowed growth in many
developing countries, although the robust growth of key emerging economies has
prevented an even deeper global recession.
12. The growth momentum has been especially notable in East Asian countries,
and its contributory factors have been debated extensively in the professional
literature. A recent review 4 traces this success to strong and competent State
institutions that were able to channel investment into critical infrastructure and
research and development, create a conducive policy environment for
entrepreneurship, promote high savings and investment, including in education, and
stimulate exports, as well as integrate into international markets.
Figure
World economic growth
Annual change (per cent)
Percentage
Source: International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database, April 2008.
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4 See, for example, Joseph E. Stiglitz and Shahid Yusuf, eds., Rethinking the East Asian Miracle
(Washington, D.C., World Bank; New York, Oxford University Press, 2001).
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