Présentation "Concessional Finance for LDCs: Challenges and Prospects in the Present Turmoil"
July 03, 2025
By combining economic research, indicator development, the evaluation of international policies and dialogue with decision-makers, FERDI contributes to advancing international thinking on least developed countries.
Its work aims to ensure that the LDCs category remains an effective instrument for identifying countries facing the most severe structural constraints, targeting support measures and fostering resilient and sustainable development pathways.
↪ Improve the identification of LDCs by assessing the relevance and consistency of the criteria relating to income, human capital, and economic and environmental vulnerability.
↪ Evaluate the effectiveness of measures introduced for LDCs. Out of the Trap: Supporting the Least Developed Countries provides the first comprehensive assessment of the effectiveness of the measures adopted in support of LDCs. This collective volume brings together contributions from around ten researchers and is currently being revised for a second edition.
↪ Ensure that the structural constraints facing LDCs are more fully reflected in policy design and the allocation of development finance.
↪ Assess the effectiveness of international support measures for LDCs, particularly in the areas of finance, trade, development assistance and capacity-building.
↪ Analyse the conditions required for sustainable graduation from the category, in order to prevent graduation from resulting in an abrupt withdrawal of support measures or renewed vulnerability.
↪ Contribute to monitoring the Doha Programme of Action, adopted for the period 2022–2031, and to the independent evaluation of its implementation.
FERDI’s research has helped establish the conceptual foundations of the LDC category. It demonstrates that the special treatment afforded to these countries is justified not only by their low income levels, but also by the structural constraints that hamper their development and limit their capacity to withstand shocks.
The book Caught in a Trap: Identifying the Least Developed Countries examined the origins and rationale of the criteria, as well as the consequences of their application for the composition of the list of LDCs.
More recent FERDI research has shown that the category remains fully relevant, but that its consistency could be strengthened by modernising the identification criteria and giving greater weight to structural vulnerabilities.
FERDI also examines the impact of the measures introduced for LDCs. The collective volume Out of the Trap: Supporting the Least Developed Countries provides a comprehensive assessment of the international mechanisms supporting this category of countries.
It analyses, in particular, the effectiveness of trade preferences, official development assistance, concessional finance, capacity-building arrangements and measures designed to support countries graduating from the category.
A new edition of the book is currently in preparation. It will incorporate developments since the first edition and examine the impact of recent global crises on the vulnerabilities, development trajectories and graduation prospects of LDCs.
FERDI brings its research to the main international forums dedicated to least developed countries.
In 2026, it participated in the fourth United Nations LDC Future Forum, contributing to discussions on solutions to strengthen LDCs’ capacity to withstand systemic shocks. It also co-organised a round-table discussion on monitoring and implementing the Doha Programme of Action.
This engagement builds on FERDI’s participation in the Fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries, held in Doha in 2023, and in the United Nations LDC Future Forums held in Helsinki in 2024 and Lusaka in 2025.
Through these contributions, FERDI promotes an approach centred on structural vulnerabilities, resilience and long-term transformation, with the aim of ensuring that international measures respond more effectively to the specific constraints facing LDCs.
FERDI is a member of the LDC5 Monitor, a network of think tanks and institutions from the Global North and Global South that provides independent analysis of the implementation of the Doha Programme of Action.
The initiative examines, in particular, how the Programme addresses the specific vulnerabilities of LDCs, supports their structural transformation and facilitates their progress towards sustainable graduation from the category.
Within this framework, FERDI contributes its particular expertise in measuring and monitoring vulnerabilities. It thereby helps to produce independent analysis, identify gaps between international commitments and their implementation, and formulate recommendations for international organisations and development partners.
