Economic & Poverty

Lebanon’s economic collapse remains a severe, long-running crisis centered on the banking system’s continued dysfunction, restrictive access to deposits, and the persistent loss of value in the Lebanese pound. The World Bank has described Lebanon’s downturn as one of the worst economic crises globally since the mid-19th century, and recent sources continue to report that banks remain largely unable to function normally, leaving depositors with limited access to savings and households dependent on informal coping strategies. According to the U.S. Department of State, the Lebanese pound has lost more than 98% of its value since 2019, underscoring the depth of the currency collapse. The social consequences remain nationwide: households struggle with food, medicine, rent, and education costs; public-sector wages and pensions have been heavily eroded; and poverty remains widespread. Recent analysis from the Doha Institute and BDL materials indicate that Lebanon’s financial system is still operating under extraordinary stress, with ongoing dollarization, inflationary pressures, and a banking sector that has not returned to normal intermediation. The crisis continues to affect all regions of Lebanon, with particularly severe hardship for low-income families, public employees, pensioners, and depositors whose funds remain trapped in the banking system.

Western and Central Africa faces an intensifying extreme poverty crisis driven by compounding economic, security, and climate shocks. As of 2026, approximately 429 million people across Africa live below the extreme poverty line of $2.15 per day, with roughly one-third of the continent's 1.4 billion inhabitants in extreme poverty. The region hosts about a quarter of the world's extreme poor, and around 73% of its population now lives in countries affected by fragility, conflict, and violence. Nigeria alone accounts for 12% of the global extreme poor population as of 2026, while the Democratic Republic of the Congo represents approximately 11.7% of global extreme poverty. Central African countries experience the most severe deprivation, with an average of 35% of citizens experiencing severe lived poverty, compared to 27% in West and Southern Africa. Severe lived poverty has surged dramatically across the region over the past decade. Between 2014/2015 and 2021/2023, severe lived poverty rose by at least 2 percentage points in 70% of surveyed African countries, with Nigeria experiencing the steepest increase of 26 percentage points, followed by Namibia and Mali at 17 points each. Countries facing the most acute crises include Mauritania (50% experiencing frequent shortages of basic necessities), Congo-Brazzaville (48%), Angola (44%), Niger (40%), and Nigeria (39%). Multiple interconnected factors drive this deterioration: ongoing armed conflict and insecurity disrupt markets and essential services; macroeconomic shocks including severe inflation (with some countries experiencing rates exceeding 100%) and currency devaluation erode purchasing power; climate-related disasters including droughts, floods, and crop failures devastate predominantly rain-fed smallholder agriculture; and slow economic recovery limits employment opportunities and government capacity for social protection. The humanitarian situation is particularly dire in the Sahel and Central Africa. Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, and Chad rank among the world's poorest countries, with Niger at 45.3% poverty rate and Chad facing near-total poverty by end of 2025 due to oil sector disruptions and internal conflict. Access to basic services remains critically limited: 220 million people in Western and Central Africa lack electricity access, while approximately 350 million lack internet access. Climate risks pose escalating threats, with estimates suggesting adverse weather events could cause annual GDP losses of 2% to 19% by 2050, potentially pushing millions more into poverty.

Yemen remains one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, and recent UN reporting indicates the situation is worsening in 2026 as food insecurity rises and aid funding declines. In January 2026, the UN said 21 million Yemenis were in need of assistance, while last year’s humanitarian response plan was only 28% funded at $688 million. Humanitarian agencies also warned that more than 18 million people face acute food insecurity, including tens of thousands in famine-like conditions, with women and girls disproportionately affected by reduced services and meal-skipping within households. The crisis is being driven by a decade of conflict, economic collapse, restricted humanitarian access, and continued abuses by warring parties. HRW reported that 19.5 million people needed humanitarian assistance in 2025, up by 1.3 million from 2024, and that US airstrikes between March 15 and May 6, 2025 killed at least 238 civilians and injured at least 467. UN and rights sources also report severe strain on health, nutrition, and protection systems, including more than 450 health facilities closed due to funding cuts, rising child malnutrition, and continuing displacement and detention abuses.

Sub-Saharan Africa remains the epicenter of global extreme poverty, with the World Bank and Our World in Data both indicating that the region accounts for roughly two-thirds of people living in extreme poverty worldwide while representing only about one-sixth of the global population. Recent analysis also shows that poverty reduction in the region remains constrained by weak per-capita growth, inflation, governance challenges, and limited export transformation, with rural and fragile/conflict-affected areas disproportionately affected. The latest academic evidence in the search results suggests that growth alone is not enough: in Sub-Saharan Africa, GDP growth reduces poverty more effectively only when exports reach a threshold of about 22.2% of GDP, and another study finds that stronger governance is associated with growth translating into lower extreme poverty only after governance quality crosses a threshold. This aligns with the wider pattern that climate shocks, instability, conflict, and sluggish recovery continue to undermine poverty reduction, especially in countries facing fragility and repeated shocks.

Global supply chains remain under sustained pressure in 2026, driven by tariff volatility, geopolitical fragmentation, cyber risk, and climate-related disruptions. The 2026 Thomson Reuters Global Trade Report found that 72% of trade professionals identified U.S. tariff volatility as the most impactful regulatory change, up from 41% the prior year, while 68% said supply chain management is now a top strategic priority. More than three-quarters (76%) of respondents said they believe the new U.S. tariffs are a permanent approach that will persist for at least four years, underscoring expectations of long-term trade fragmentation. Recent industry reports also show that geopolitical and operational risks are broadening across regions. Xeneta says geopolitical fragmentation, trade policy volatility, and export controls remain dominant risks in 2026, while Everstream reports a 61% surge in cyber-attacks on logistics in 2025 and highlights major disruptions from GPS jamming/spoofing in the Baltic Sea area, where it says around 15% of global cargo shipping passes. Everstream also cites severe 2025 weather-related losses in Europe of an estimated €43 billion and notes that late-2025 cyclones caused about $615 million in damage to Sri Lanka’s highway network. WEF and ASCM both characterize 2026 supply chains as operating in a more persistent volatility environment, with companies responding through sourcing changes, nearshoring, automation, and AI-enabled risk management. The crisis is affecting major trading blocs and logistics corridors, especially the United States, China, Europe, the Baltic Sea region, South and Southeast Asia, and markets linked to critical minerals and semiconductors. Reported mitigation strategies include changing sourcing patterns, renegotiating supplier contracts, and moving manufacturing closer to end markets, but the overall pattern remains one of elevated disruption and strategic fragmentation rather than stabilization.