São Paulo – Global industry is going through an extended period of low growth and didn’t make significant progress last year, according to survey by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (Unido, in the English acronym) released this Wednesday (18th). The market value added grew 2.3% in the world in 2014.
The MVA represents the net contribution of the manufacturing sector to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of countries and Unido’s data comes from domestic sources in each nation and international bodies, among them the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OCDE).
The 2014 growth was a little lower than in 2013, when it stood at 2.7%. Last year’s weak performance occurred mainly due to the timid growth of the MVA of the industrialized economies, around 1%. While in the emerging countries the index stood at 5%. Despite positive economic signs early in the year, the worst performance came from Europe, which was affected by geopolitical tensions in the world.
However, Unido points out that there’s a great disparity between the per capita MVA of industrialized and of emerging nations. While in the former the MVA stands around US$ 4,725 per person, in the latter the figure drops to less than US$ 60. Industrialized countries represent 64.1% of the global MVA and within them the women represent a higher percentage of the sector’s employees, highlights Unido.
The survey provides the basis for the adoption of industrial policies and structural and productivity changes. To reverse the disparity between industrialized and emerging nations, one of the goals among the Sustainable Development Goals (ODS), which will be put into effect in September 2015, will be the increase in industrial productivity in less developed nations.
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
