Progress slow for Africa’s LDCs 

In a presentation at the Expert’s Segment of COM2025 on the progress made in priority areas in Africa of the Doha Program of Action for LDCs, she said countries continued to show limited resilience, experiencing high debt and fiscal deficits. 

Efforts to build resilience in these economies is also moving slowly, she maintained.

Schwidrowski said Africa is home to 32 of 44 LDCs globally. “This is almost one in 10 people, but they represent less than 1% of global GDP and less than 1% of global exports,” she said, highlighting the challenges faced by these countries in building sustainable and resilient economies.

This variation in the types of countries in this category required a nuanced approach to policies to address their challenges.    

Four African countries have graduated from LDC status – Botswana (1994), Cabo Verde (2007), Equatorial Guinea (2107) and Sao Tome and Principe (2024) while Senegal and Djibouti, which have been recommended for graduation, have asked for five-year extensions.

Nine of Africa’s 32 LDCs are in debt distress and 11 are at high risk of distress, with rising debt costs consuming limited budgets.  

LDCs have limited export capacity, with exports remaining concentrated in low-value, primary and resource-based, with minimal progress made towards doubling global export share by 2031, Schwidrowski said.  

The bloc faces a major challenge in building climate resilience, with limited access to finance and technology and a huge deficit in climate funding. Despite promises by rich countries of $100bn annually for developing countries, just 13% reached LDCs in 2022.

These challenges are longstanding, but the situation is getting more precarious at a time of declining ODA, Schwidrowski said, urging countries to mobilise funds domestically, including from the private sector.