UN Development Agency Says Poverty Not Declining

UN Development Agency Says Poverty Not Declining

The report says record levels of exports, foreign direct investments and overseas development aid account for the record levels of economic growth in the world's least developed countries.

It says aid from rich countries to poor countries doubled to $25 billion between 1999 and 2004. It says some of the poorest countries profited from high demand for oil and other natural resources as well as record merchandise exports of nearly $58 billion. In addition, the report notes private foreign investment amounted to a record $10.7 billion.

But the secretary-general of UNCTAD, Supachai Panitchpakdi, says these riches were not spread evenly among all the less-developed countries. And this is cause for concern.

"Real GDP per capita stagnated or declined in one-third of LDCs is 2004," he said. "Second issue for concern is that the sustainability for growth is rather fragile as it is highly dependent on trends in commodity prices, particularly oil prices, which seems to be quite volatile. Also, trends in external finance, preferences for export of manufactured goods and climatic and weather conditions."

Supachai says these trends are not always stable. He says an overall increase in gross domestic product is not as important as providing people with jobs that provide a decent living.

VOCABULARY:

1 merchandise:commodities(articles fo comerce) offered for sale.

2 UNCTAD:联合国贸易与发展会议

3 capita(牲畜的)总(头)数

4 stagnate:stand still;cease to flow,stand without moving

5 sustainability:the property of being sustainable(be the physical support of;hold up)

6 fragile:easily broken or damaged or destroyed[delicate]

7 commodity:trade goods

8 volatile:likely to change frequently often without apperant or cogent reason;variable

9 decent:enough to meet a purpose

TRANSLATION:

  报导声称出口，外资以及海外发展救援的最高水平反应了全球最不发达国家的最高经济发展水平。
报导说从富国为贫国的捐助在1999至2004年间翻倍到250亿美元。他说一些最贫穷的国家依靠高需求的石油以及其他天然资源，出口商品将近580亿美元从中获取利润。除此之外，报道指出国外私人投资总达107亿美元。
  但联合国贸易与发展会议的秘书长SP说，这些财富并没有平均的分给这些不发达国家。这是一个值得关注的问题。
  他说“GDP与2004LDC的1/3持平抑或是有所下降。”,“第二个值得关注的问题是高度的依靠出口商品价格而可持续增长，实际依然很脆弱，特别是看似很不稳定的石油价格。以及外部资金的动向，对于出口商品的倾向以及气候条件。
  S说这些趋势不会永久稳定。他说一个国家的国内生产总值增长并没有比提供人们工作和一个满足的生活重要。