Learn English – what does this sentence mean in the following passage

meaning

what does this sentence mean? (emphasis added)

Serious adjustment problems with global implications directly confront one
or two of the advanced countries, but a significant slowing of
the world economy and high energy and food prices could give rise to or
worsen adjustment problems in a number of African, Latin American,
and Asian economies.

Does it mean that:

there are now serious adjustment problems that face just one
or two of the advanced countries?

Does it mean that:

serious adjustment problems will confront just one
or two of the advanced countries?

I will be grateful in anyone could help me through this problem.

Yusuf, Shahid. 2009. Development Economics through the Decades : A Critical Look at 30 Years of the World Development Report. Washington, DC: World Bank. p 71.

Best Answer

Serious adjustment problems with global implications directly confront one or two of the advanced countries, but a significant slowing of the world economy and high energy and food prices could give rise to or worsen adjustment problems in a number of African, Latin American, and Asian economies.

One or two advanced countries are directly confronted with serious adjustment problems. These problems have global implications. In a number of economies in Africa, Latin America, and Asia, a significant slowing of the world economy, coupled with high energy and food prices, could give rise to new adjustment problems, or make existing adjustment problems worse.

I'm not sure about "coupled with" in my paraphrase. It's not clear to me whether the author of the original passage is mentioning two things each of which could cause problems for those economies [ (1) slowing of the world economy and (2) high energy and food prices ] or if the author means when those two things occur together.

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