Very poor head of state cornered (8)
I believe the answer is:
strapped
'very poor' is the definition.
(strapped for cash)
'head of state cornered' is the wordplay.
'head of' suggests taking the first letters.
'cornered' becomes 'trapped' (synonyms).
The first letter of 'state' is 's'.
's'+'trapped'='STRAPPED'
(Other definitions for strapped that I've seen before include "Like one who may need a loan" , "Without, or very short of, cash" , "Needy - secured" , "- - for cash (hard up)" , "Bound" .)