51吃瓜

When a country leaves (“graduates from”) the least developed countries (LDC) category, it ceases to benefit from international support measures that are exclusive to LDCs (in some cases, these measures are available for a set period after graduation, known as a smooth transition period). This Policy Note provides an overview of the expected impacts of the withdrawal of LDC-specific international support measures in Cambodia, Comoros, Djibouti, Senegal and Zambia. These countries met the Committee for Development Policy (CDP)’s graduation thresholds for the first time in 2021 and, according to the established procedures will be assessed again in 2024, when they may be recommended for graduation. For any country, the loss of LDC-specific support measures can mean a potential reduction in the resources or policy space to address development challenges. For example, no longer benefiting from the LDC-specific special and differential treatment provisions under WTO agreements, including the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), the Agreement on Agriculture and the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing measures could mean a reduction of policy space. Similarly, the loss of preferential market access can make it more difficult, if other competitiveness factors are in place, to pursue export diversification strategies. These potential, long-run, impacts depend on the relevance of the support measures for countries’ development strategies, and on countries’ capacity to use them. This Policy Note focuses on the likely impacts, in the short and medium run, of the withdrawal of these measures, taking into account the nature of the support measures and how the identified countries have used them so far.