IMF/Lisa Marie David      A vegetable vendor serves a customer at a market in Manila, Philippines.

September 15, 2022      Economic Development

Rising global inflation is expected to hit emerging and developing economies particularly hard this year, adding to a “confluence of crises” that threatens us all, the UN’s acting human rights chief has warned.

Addressing the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Thursday, Nada Al- Nashif cited International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasts that advanced economies should brace themselves for average inflation rates of 6.6 per cent in 2022, well below the 9.5 per cent rate expected to hit poorer nations.

Ms. Al-Nashif added that although the world’s richest countries had seen employment rates return or exceed pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2021, “most” middle-income countries hadn’t yet managed to recover from the COVID-19 crisis.

COVID legacy and Ukraine suffering

The coronavirus had “exposed and exacerbated pre-existing inequalities” and set back sustainable growth “by several years in many parts of the world”, the acting UN rights chief told the Council, during its biennial discussion on the right to development.

Unsustainable sovereign debt burdens had also “weighed down” many developing nations because they had negative repercussions for providing social protection, Ms. Al-Nashif continued, adding that many countries now faced unprecedented fiscal challenges, “including social unrest”, because their hands had been tied by expensive loan repayments.

To make matters worse, the acting rights chief reiterated that the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February had led to “major human suffering” inside the country, and beyond its borders.

The war had also triggered new disruption to global supply chains, contributing to “skyrocketing fuel and food prices” that had affected women and girls disproportionately, Ms. Al-Nashif explained.