Executive summary

The 2022 Aid for Trade Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) exercise takes place amidst crises of unprecedented magnitude, significantly affecting trade and investment. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused severe human and economic losses, slowing down and in some cases reversing hard won progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Countries lacking the capacity to implement large monetary and fiscal stimuli were hit hard, experiencing widening inequalities. While 2021 showed signs of a swift recovery, in early 2022 Russia’s war against Ukraine created a major humanitarian crisis and derailed economic growth prospects. Spikes in the price of energy and food caused by the war, combined with rapidly rising inflation, are posing serious food security risks in low-income countries (LICs).