United Nations Says More Investment Needed in Latin America to Reduce Poverty Lisa Nikolau - Humanosphere
go to original May 1, 2017

This is what poverty looks like in Latin America (Banco Mundial LAC)

Latin America’s economy is growing, but many officials speaking at a U.N. forum in Mexico City said low investment in the region threatens to slow poverty reductions.

Mexico’s President Enrique Peña Nieto said poverty, injustice and discrimination are still “appalling realities” across the region. Peña Nieto said promoting sustainable economic equality will rely on countries’ abilities to follow the 2030 development agenda, which addresses a range of equity issues from poverty and human rights to climate change and economic stability.

Speaking at a U.N.-sponsored forum in Mexico City, Alicia Bárcena, executive secretary of the U.N. Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), stressed the need for greater public spending and economic activity if the region is to reach the poverty reduction goals agreed upon by U.N. members in 2015.

“By 2030, we have to take 75 million people out of extreme poverty,” Bárcena told Reuters. “Zero is the only acceptable level of poverty.”

The senior U.N. representative noted that from 1990 to 2015, the regional poverty rate in Latin America fell from 48 percent to 28 percent. But that trend has suddenly been reversed, she warned, as the poverty rate increased by one percentage point last year.

The forum coincides with U.N. agency’s first annual report on the Latin America’s progress towards the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. One of the findings is that after two years of economic contraction in Latin America, the regional Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is now expected to grow 1.1 percent in 2017.

To sustain this growth, the U.N. agency recommends countries prioritize social equality and the environment.

Read the rest at Humanosphere

Related: Mexico Announces 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (Presidency of the Republic)

Related: Informal Labor, Another Wall Faced by Migrants in Latin America (The Wire)

Related: Can Blockchain Technology Help Poor People Around the World? (The Conversation)

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