You are here Home » Press Releases » ECLAC Asks for Reconsidering the Criteria to Measure and Classify Development, and Suspending the “Graduations” of Middle-Income Countries During the Pandemic Available in: EnglishEspañol ECLAC Asks for Reconsidering the Criteria to Measure and Classify Development, and Suspending the “Graduations” of Middle-Income Countries During the Pandemic The regional organization’s Executive Secretary, Alicia Bárcena, participated in a debate on the second day of the 20th session of the United Nations High-level Committee on South-South Cooperation. 2 June 2021|Press Release The region of Latin America and the Caribbean is basically made up of middle-income countries that, in the context of financing for development, have been left out of access to concessional funds, especially Caribbean island states and small, Central American economies. That is why it is urgently necessary to reconsider the criteria for measuring and classifying development while also suspending the “graduations” of middle-income countries during the pandemic, Alicia Bárcena, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), proposed during the 20th session of the High-level Committee on South-South Cooperation (June 1-4).