Major UN report on sustainable financing says global financial architecture must be revamped April 4th

Who:   Ms. Amina J. Mohammed, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General

What:  This major report takes stock of the progress countries are making in mobilizing financing to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Now in its fourth year, the “Financing for Sustainable Development Report 2019” evaluates the global landscape and makes recommendations for governments before the Spring Meetings of the World Bank and IMF and the ECOSOC Forum on Financing for Development.   

When:      Thursday, 4 April 2019 at 11:00 am EST

Where:     UNHQ Press Briefing room - broadcast on http://webtv.un.org

Findings of the report: While interest in sustainable financing is increasing, the transition to a sustainable economy is not happening at the required scale. At the same time, systemic risks are rising, and the multilateral system is under strain. The 60 agencies involved in writing the report argue that this difficulty presents an opportunity to revisit the global institutional architecture and repurpose it for sustainable development. It calls for strengthened collective action to tackle global challenges as well as national policies to align domestic financial systems with sustainable development, including addressing short-term incentives in financial markets. It finds that a failure to reshape both national and international financial systems will result in the failure of the international community to deliver the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including eliminating extreme poverty and combatting climate change. Some of the points of the report include:

• Debt risks are rising. Around 30 of the least developed other vulnerable countries are either in, or at high risk of, debt distress.
• Tax revenues are insufficient, and tax rules are inadequate given digitalization, but small and poor countries are not adequately included in international tax architecture reform efforts.
• Inequality has risen in countries where most people live in the world, and global growth in real wages is only 1.8 per cent, the lowest since 2008.
• Greenhouse gas emissions are increasing by 1.3 per cent in 2017, with potentially dire consequences for communities worldwide.

Background:  The report is a joint product of the Inter-agency Task Force on Financing for Development. The Task Force comprises more than 60 members contributing to the report. The Financing for Sustainable Development Office of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs serves as the coordinator and substantive editor, in close cooperation the World Bank Group, the IMF, WTO, UNCTAD, and the UNDP. The Task Force was mandated by the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and is chaired by Mr. Zhenmin LIU, Under-Secretary General for Economic and Social Affairs. This report is the substantive basis for discussions at the ECOSOC Forum on Financing for Development (15-18 April 2019), where Member States agree on measures necessary to mobilize sustainable financing. The SDG Investment Fair, which brings together government officials and investors, will also be held 15-16 April at the UN Headquarters.  More information on both events is at: https://www.un.org/esa/ffd/ffdforum/