Poorest countries will be $12tn worse off by 2025 due to Covid – UN

Pandemic has added to their debts while wealthy nations limit access to vaccines, says annual report

The world's poorest countries will be left $12tn (8.7tn) worse off by 2025 amid a weaker economic recovery from Covid-19 as wealthy nations limit their access to vaccines, the United Nations has warned.

In its annual trade and development report, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) said low-income countries had been hit much harder by the pandemic than during the 2008 financial crisis, adding to their debts and piling pressure on their public finances.