The divide between rich industrialised and poor developing countries has widened over the last two decades, the United Nations industrial development organisation (Unido) warned here on Tuesday.
Just 16 of 58 developing countries improved their technological capacities in comparison to other countries between 1985 and 1998, Unido announced in a report on global industrial development.
The report included a scoreboard ranking the economies of 87 countries according to their industrial strength — the first of its kind ever compiled.
Just six countries — China, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Ireland and Egypt — improved their rank considerably between 1985 and 1986.
A dozen — Tanzania, Peru, Ghana, Venezuela, Hong Kong, Zimbabwe, Saudi Arabia, Jamaica, Panama, Senegal, Oman and Algeria — were substantial losers in industrial competition, the report said, adding that Hong Kong was in the list because it has moved a
number of businesses to mainland China.
”The least developed countries, still struggling to meet the basic human needs of their population, have had their health, social and economic standards slip over the last few decades,” Unido Director General Carlos Magarinos said in the report.
”Indeed, the real per capita income of 30 developing countries is lower today than it was 35 years ago,” he added.
In 1950, the richest 20% of the world’s population earned 30 times as much per head as the poorest 20%.
By 1990, that gap had widened to 90 times as much per head, Magarinos said at a press conference to launch the report.
”Much more must be done to ensure that developing countries at large can benefit from the process of globalisation,” he said.
Frederic Richard, of the Unido strategic research and economics branch, pointed out that industrial rankings in the scoreboard had remained fairly stable from 1985 to 1998.
While countries in eastern Asia and the eastern European transition economies, Latin America and the Caribbean improved their industrial performances, economies in sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey’s performances slipped during
the period.
”Developing countries do not need to reinvent the wheel. They must mobilise existing technology, draw from the global pool of technology, knowledge and learning and use it efficiently according to the local conditions. That is how the successful countries have done it,” said Richard. – Sapa-AFP