Financing for development: Mobilizing sustainable development finance beyond COVID-19

The Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Financing for Development,

Reaffirming General Assembly resolution 69/313 of 27 July 2015 on the Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development, which is an integral part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, supports and complements it, helps to contextualize its means of implementation targets with concrete policies and actions, including on climate change and related global challenges, and reaffirms the strong political commitment to address the challenge of financing and creating an enabling environment at all levels for sustainable development in the spirit of global partnership and solidarity,

Recalling also paragraph 100 (r) of the Nairobi Maafikiano (TD/519/Add.2), which called for the establishment of an intergovernmental group of experts on financing for development,

Recalling the Bridgetown Covenant (TD/541/Add.2) in which member States instruct UNCTAD to continue to build on the analytical and policy-oriented work of UNCTAD in the field of financing for development, in cooperation with other institutional stakeholders, in the United Nations follow-up and review process on financing for development, and assist developing countries in identifying policy options aimed at strengthening mobilization of domestic and international, public and private, resource mobilization for the timely attainment of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals,

Recalling further paragraph 122 of the Bridgetown Covenant, which calls for increased efforts to ensure coherence and avoid potential duplication of work with other competent forums, as well as to seek input from all relevant actors, thus providing for an inclusive, balanced and well-informed exchange, and credibility of the outcomes, and emphasizing that the leadership of member State experts should be ensured,

Noting with concern the effects of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis on the global economy, and in particular in developing countries, which, among other things, resulted in increased levels of external debt,

1. Stresses the need to enhance developing countries’ access to climate finance, in particular for adaptation, through domestic and international, private and public sources, as well as boosting productive capacities and investment in developing countries conducive to advancing their structural transformation towards a low-emission, competitive, climate-resilient and sustainable economy;
    
2. Calls upon UNCTAD to support developing countries in elaborating targeted national policies to build a diversified, and sustainable economy, driven by a strong, climate-conscious developmental State, willing and able to dialogue with all relevant stakeholders, including the private sector, as well as able to mobilize and manage external and domestic, private and public resources, and recalls in this regard the value of integrated national financing frameworks that can support nationally owned sustainable development strategies by effectively mobilizing and aligning a wide range of financing sources and instruments with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;
    
3. Stresses the need to explore the benefits and costs of new and innovative instruments to development finance, including blended finance, public–private partnerships and Sustainable Development Goal bonds, according to national priorities, for contributing to the closing of the Sustainable Development Goal investment gap by lowering investment specific risks and incentivizing additional private sector finance across key development sectors and, in this regard, welcomes the continuous evidence-based assessment of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Financing for Development to further develop these instruments and maximize their contribution towards the Sustainable Development Goals, while addressing the identified challenges;
    
4. Underscores the role that regional and multilateral development banks can play in enabling financial resources for developing countries for their sustainable development and structural transformation, and the need for their actions to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement and other relevant international agreements, recognizes the urgent need to strengthen their capital base, and calls for consideration of possible enhanced emergency concessional finance mechanisms in times of crisis;
    
5. Recognizes the contribution made to participating countries by the Debt Service Suspension Initiative and the Common Framework for Debt Treatments beyond the Debt Service Suspension Initiative, and calls for an effective, transparent and expedited implementation of the Common Framework, with comparable efforts by private creditors and other relevant international creditors;
    
6. Recommends further studying the opportunities and challenges of integrating natural disaster clauses and other similar clauses related to external shocks into bonds and the ultimate contribution to increasing developing countries’ liquidity and economic stability during times of crisis;
    
7. Recalls the importance of domestic and international, private and public resources to ensure prompt responses to future crises, thus contributing to countries’ financial stability and resilience and, in this regard, welcomes the International Monetary Fund’s special drawing rights allocation, and invites countries able to do so to actively consider options to voluntarily channel special drawing rights to benefit the most vulnerable countries, including middle-income countries, in accordance with national laws and regulations;
    
8. Underlines the importance of other initiatives for unlocking financing for developing countries and catalysing investments in the Sustainable Developments Goals, including in middle-income countries.