Economic and Social Development

The 2025 edition of the United Nations World Economic Situation and Prospects report comes at the mid-way point of a decade that has been characterized by economic turbulence.

The World Economic Situation and Prospects 2025 presents a regional and global economic outlook for 2025 and underscores the importance of global cooperation and prudent policies to lift global growth and accelerate progress towards the SDGs. This year’s thematic chapter takes a deep dive into the role of critical minerals in ramping up energy transition and delivering sustainable development. These minerals are key to build renewable technologies to achieve net zero by 2050 while bringing tremendous opportunities for many developing countries to create jobs generate revenues and spur industrialization.

This study was prepared by the UNCTAD secretariat drawing on research prepared by UNCTAD consultants Mr. Jean-Louis Arcand Professor International Economics Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies Geneva and Ms. Pinyi Chen Researcher Development Economics Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies Geneva. The study seeks to stimulate debate on the research topic.

A variety of controls imposed under occupation constrain economic development in Areas A and B of the West Bank. These include the ban on the importation of certain technology and inputs under the dual-use list system and a myriad of mobility and other restrictions that inflate the cost of production and undermine the competitiveness of Palestinian producers in domestic and foreign markets. While special economic zones in China and other countries have contributed significantly to their economies and are thought to be positive the classification of portions of the West Bank as part of Area C exerts the opposite effect: instead of openness it entails restrictions and instead of contributing to the economy it hampers and suppresses its potential. Area C thus plays a role kin to an “adverse economic zone” that thwarts investment instead of promoting greater economic activity. This study quantifies the impact of the relative share of Area C in Palestinian localities on household welfare measured by expenditure. The estimation exercise uses two cross-sectional data sets on 457 localities in 10 governorates. The exercise reveals that the greater the share of Area C in a locality the stronger the negative impact on total household expenditure. The extent of this negative effect however is heterogeneous and varies across West Bank governorates. The study complements previous studies and concludes that reducing restrictions in Area C to levels similar to Areas A and B as a necessary but not sufficient step towards ending the occupation in line with relevant United Nations resolutions and could boost total Palestinian household expenditure substantially by up to 200 per cent in some localities and help to reduce poverty substantially across much of the Occupied Palestinian Territory.