29 September 2020
Under the Initiative on Financing for Development in the Era of COVID-19, Canada, Jamaica and the Secretary-General convened a follow-up Meeting of Heads of State and Government on September 29th, 2020. The overall objective of the meeting was to consider the menu of policy options developed over the last four months by the six discussion groups with the ambition of supporting Member States in responding and recovering from the current global crisis. We were the co-focal point of DG IV (Debt vulnerabilities) and contributed to DG VI (Illicit Financial flows).
September 2020
The second phase of the project “Response and Recovery: Mobilising Financial Resources for Development in the Time of Covid-19” began September, as one of the five new short-term joint projects of the UN Development Account launched in response to the COVID-19 crisis. As project leads, together with ECLAC, ESCAP and UNECA, we are pulling together an ambitious set of tools and policy analysis to aid member countries.January 2020, Riyadh. First G20 IFA WG meeting for 2020.
Head of DDFB, Stephanie Blankenburg, attended. The G20 IFA agenda for 2020 focusses on- developing domestic capital markets
- better managing the risks stemming from excessive capital flow
- volatility pursuing the work on enhancing cooperation among all development partners
- enhancing debt transparency and sustainability, and financing for development in low income developing countries.
November 2019, Geneva. The bi-annual Debt Management Conference
Hosted by DDFB, the keynote address for the conference was presented by the Namibian Minister of Finance, H. E. Mr. Carl Schlettwein. His Excellency highlighted the fragility of the times, as aggregate developing country debt amounted to 215% of GDP, with private sector debt as a share of GDP having doubled over 10% and now amounting to three quarters of developing country debt.
November 2019, Jakarta. Enhancing Structural Transformation: Learnings from China.
Head of DDFB, Stephanie Blankenburg, opened the workshop on behalf of UNCTAD and welcomed the key note speaker, Wimboh Santoso, Chairman of the Board of the Commissioners of the Financial Services Authority, Indonesia, at the first of three country workshops on for the “South-South Integration and The SDGs: Enhancing Structural Transformation in Key Partner Countries of the Belt and Road Initiative.” (). Senior Economic Affairs officer, Penelope Hawkins, presented in the session Structural transformation, Debt management and debt sustainability.
September 2019, Brussels, Paris and the Vatican. Launch of the 2019 Trade and Development Report.
The press release read: ‘Till debt do us part: UN calls for urgent action on debt relief, concessional lending and improved sovereign debt restructuring mechanisms”. The press release highlighted the high and growing levels of indebtedness in developing countries undermines their ability to achieve the most basic of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs), with very little policy space for governments to deliver on the public good SDGs 1-4 (no poverty, no hunger, and access to good education and health care.
