Inputs to the Outcome Document

IFC’s brief outlines some of the necessary conditions for continued growth in the application of blended finance for private sector projects in emerging markets and developing economies to address global challenges like climate, fragility, food security, and gender. Enhanced transparency, new sources of flexible concessional finance, and continued collaboration between stakeholders are identified as key factors in helping the market scale to meet the SDG funding gap.

Breaking the Chains: Reimagining and Leveraging Public Debt and Domestic Resource Mobilization to end the AIDS Pandemics and Achieve the Global Goals

Scaling up public and private investments in sustainable industrialization is a key to closing the SDG financing gap in developing countries. This UNIDO policy brief discusses how modern SDG-oriented industrial policies, complemented by innovative financing mechanisms and capacity-building, can play an important role in directing financing towards strategic investments and sectors, thus accelerating progress towards the SDGs.

Voting right imbalances persist in international financial institutions with respect to the population and size of the economy of their member states. Aiming for greater influence on financing policy decisions impacting developing countries, Asia-Pacific member states should continue on institutional reform discussions. However, strengthening of regional financial institutions in parallel as a complementary approach.

Addressing both social and environmental objectives is essential to mitigate risks and seize opportunities related to the low-carbon transition. A just transition requires supportive financial flows and enabling financial systems. Member States can support mobilization of financial resources for a just transition by leveraging public development banks, incentivizing the use of financing instruments that attract private capital, developing comprehensive sustainable finance frameworks that consider social and environmental objectives, and developing capacities within the financial system.

Trade is vital for economic growth, but protectionism and unilateralism threaten the global trading system, limiting developing countries' participation. These nations face challenges in competing with developed economies' subsidies for green and digital transitions and struggle to secure financing for infrastructure. To enhance their role in global value chains, developing countries require substantial investment in transportation, energy, and digital infrastructure. A specialized infrastructure fund, supported by multilateral development banks and private capital, is crucial to closing this financing gap.

By grounding policy decisions in solid evidence, countries can better navigate the complexities of tax reforms and ensure that their strategies effectively support the financing of the SDGs. Administrative data and ex-ante policy modelling, such as tax-benefit microsimulation modelling, are indispensable in providing a full picture to policymakers. Data and modelling infrastructure should be public goods accessible to the government and its agencies, academia, think tanks and CSOs to enable an inclusive debate about the choices governments face when making decisions on tax and benefit policies.

This brief focuses on the importance of strengthening financial regulations that can accelerate private financing towards the Sustainable Development Goals in the Asia-Pacific region. The brief puts forward actions to deepen banking and capital markets in Asia and the Pacific, as well as outlines a new approach that combines concessional and private finance in the least developed countries in Asia and the Pacific.

This policy brief argues that the international financial architecture requires a radical transformation to resume progress and advance on human rights, including the right to development, climate action and the commitments outlined in the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development. There is a need for a multilateral legal framework on sovereign debt, grounded in international human rights principles and standards, where all creditors, including private creditors participate on an equal footing to ensure a fair and effective resolution of debt crisis.

Culture is now recognized as a key driver of inclusive sustainable development, as recently evidenced in the UN Pact for the Future. However, culture remains sidelined in discussions and policies on the financing of sustainable development. A more systematic integration of culture into financing frameworks – spanning domestic public resources, private sector investments, development cooperation and trade – is fundamental for accelerating the implementation of 2030 Agenda and for advancing sustainable development in the post-2030 agenda, including through culture as a stand-alone goal.

Financing the Pathway Towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC): Improving Health Sector Priority Setting

Remittances and diaspora investments are a major source of external private finance crucial for achieving SDGs, but their full potential remains largely untapped. Member States should acknowledge their potential and renew and expand their commitments to maximize their impact to development, ensuring access to formal, affordable, and secure remittance services through supportive regulations, improved payment systems, digital solutions, and promoting financial inclusion for both migrants and their families back home. At the same time, Member States should facilitate and support diaspora investments to homeland SMEs by creating diaspora engagement strategies and supportive environments, capacity-building for diaspora members, involve them in policy development, remove investment barriers, and provide adequate mechanisms to crowd in their investment.

The brief highlights the need for Member States to put gender equality at the forefront of macroeconomic and fiscal policies. The brief argues while advanced economies have implemented policies to accelerate economic recovery, developing nations lack adequate financing to do the same, leaving women in precarious positions. Today, many countries are implementing austerity measures that limit government spending on essential services, further harming women's economic security. The brief also highlights that high debt levels in developing countries continue to divert resources away from social programs and initiatives that promote gender equality, hindering progress and potentially reversing gains. Overall, the brief advocates for a comprehensive approach to financing gender equality, recognizing the potential of various policy levers and the need for gender-responsive policymaking, including accelerating the reforms of the international financial architecture.

Financing Solutions to Protect and Expand Social Sector Investments to Deliver Children's Rights