Latest news with #4thInternationalConferenceonFinancingforDevelopment
Scoop
3 hours ago
- Business
- Scoop
Hope Renewed For Keeping The Promise Of The SDGs As World Leaders Head To Sevilla For The FFD4
4th International Conference on Financing for Development, June 30-July 3 New York, 25 June 2025 – Amid mounting debt burdens and declining investment, to reduced aid and growing trade barriers, world leaders will gather in Sevilla next week for the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FFD4). Access to food, health, education and water provides communities around the world a path out of poverty. But billions of people live in countries that pay more in interest on debt than on health or education. Against this backdrop, the high-level gathering marks a pivotal moment for the international community to reaffirm that the ambition and commitments made to sustainable development in the landmark 2015 Addis Ababa Action Agenda, remain strong; that international cooperation is delivering progress and action; and that the promise of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) endures. Speaking at a press briefing today, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed stressed the need for immediate action, 'A decade after world leaders embraced the 2030 Agenda and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, we remain off course – the system is failing those it was meant to uplift. 'But Sevilla offers a chance to change course – to catalyze investment, address the debt and sustainable development crisis, and reform the rules of the system to put people's needs at the center,' she added. 'It sends a powerful message to the world that despite persistent headwinds, international cooperation is delivering progress and there is renewed hope in keeping alive the promise of the SDGs.' In his remarks at the press briefing, Ambassador Héctor Gómez Hernández, Permanent Representative of Spain to the United Nations highlighted, 'This conference is an appeal to action and we have the extraordinary opportunity to send a very strong message to defend the international community's commitment to multilateralism.' In Sevilla, the global community will formally agree to a range of actions that advance the financing for development agenda. To unlock investment, member states will double support for mobilizing domestic resources, triple lending by Multilateral Development Banks, and remove constraints to private capital in frontier markets. To address the debt crisis, new initiatives will be launched to scale up debt swaps and debt pause clauses, and a borrowers' forum will be established to share experience and coordinate approaches. To create a fairer financial system, member states will advance efforts to give developing countries greater voice in decision-making and call for a review of the role of Special Drawing Rights that assist countries in emergencies. Co-facilitator of the negotiation process, Ambassador Chola Milambo, Permanent Representative of Zambia to the United Nations noted that the negotiated outcome document sent a message of hope to the world, 'That we can tackle the financial challenges that stand in the way of the SDGs and that multilateralism can still work.' From Sevilla to the upcoming G20 Summit in Johannesburg, momentum is building to deliver solutions across debt, trade, financing and investment in support of the 2030 Agenda. About FFD4 The Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FFD4), to take place in Sevilla, Spain, from 30 June to 3 July 2025, will bring together world leaders to advance solutions to financing challenges threatening the achievement of sustainable development. Governments, international organizations, financial institutions, businesses and civil society will commit to financing our future through a renewed global framework for financing for development. The Conference is expected to adopt the Compromiso de Sevilla, an intergovernmentally negotiated outcome, which was approved for adoption by consensus at the Fourth Preparatory Committee Meeting for FFD4 (17 June 2025). The Conference will mark the beginning of implementation of the outcome document, signaling a new phase of collective action on financing for development. Coalitions of countries and diverse stakeholders will announce ambitious commitments and solutions under the Sevilla Platform for Action that will operationalize the renewed financing framework and move from dialogue to delivery.
Time of India
2 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Developing countries face record-high public debt burdens, time for reform: UN Trade and Development
BATHINDA: Global public debt rose to $102 trillion in 2024. Developing countries accounted for nearly one third of that amount – $31 trillion – and paid a record $921 billion in interest, straining budgets and putting vital public services at risk. In the latest edition of its 'A world of debt' report series, UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) notes that public debt in developing countries has grown twice as fast as in richer nations since 2010. Debt can be a powerful tool to finance infrastructure and improve lives. But when it becomes too large or too costly, it holds back economies and undermines development. Countries – especially those in the developing world – urgently need more sustainable and affordable ways to finance the future. Stark disparities and systemic inequalities: The report flags stark contrasts among developing regions, with Asia and Oceania holding 24% of global public debt, followed by Latin America and the Caribbean (5%), and Africa (2%). Worldwide, public debt burdens vary significantly across countries, depending on the terms of financing and the types of creditors to which they can access. Systemic inequalities in international financial systems are making things even more challenging. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Perdagangkan CFD Emas dengan Broker Tepercaya IC Markets Mendaftar Undo Since 2020, developing regions have been borrowing at rates two to four times higher than the United States, for example. In 2023, developing countries paid $487 billion to lenders abroad. Half of these economies spent at least 6.5% of their export earnings to repay external public debt. People pay the price: In 2023, developing countries paid $25 billion more to creditors than they received in fresh debt disbursements, leading to an overall net debt outflow for years in a row. This negative trend is worsening, the report warns, as high interest rates, low global growth and rising uncertainty continue to strain public finances and make it harder to sustainably manage debt. In 2024, developing nations paid $921 billion in net interest on public debt, up 10% from the previous year. A record 61 developing economies spent at least 10% of their government revenues on interest payments, leaving less for critical areas like health, education and climate action. Today, 3.4 billion people live in countries that spend more on interest than on health or education. A call to action: Rising debt, falling investment and shrinking aid are among the biggest financing threats facing the world today and putting the Sustainable Development Goals further out of reach. The UN's upcoming 4th International Conference on Financing for Development offers a once-in-a-decade opportunity to mobilize finance at scale and reform global financial rules to better serve people and the planet. Ahead of the summit, UN Trade and Development highlights key actions needed: Making international economic governance more inclusive by giving developing countries a real voice in how global financial systems are run. Improving access to liquidity in times of crisis, including greater use of Special Drawing Rights, temporary suspension of IMF surcharges, better access to emergency financing funding and stronger South-South financial cooperation. Fixing the international debt system, by creating a fair and effective mechanism that goes beyond the limits of the current G20 Common Framework for Debt Treatment. Providing more affordable finance and technical support, including delivering on aid and climate finance commitments, reforming multilateral development banks and helping countries manage debt more effectively.
Indian Express
16-06-2025
- Business
- Indian Express
‘Alarm bells' for developing nations as 2023 FDI lowest since 2005
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into developing countries fell to $435 billion in 2023, the lowest in nearly 20 years, the World Bank said Monday, warning that rising trade and investment barriers posed a 'significant threat to global efforts to mobilise financing for development'. According to the Bank, the fall in FDI into developing nations was part of a global trend that saw similar flows into advanced economies declining to $336 billion in 2023, the lowest level since 1996. 'What we're seeing is a result of public policy,' Indermit Gill, the World Bank Group's Chief Economist, said. 'It's not a coincidence that FDI is plumbing new lows at the same time that public debt is reaching record highs. Private investment will now have to power economic growth, and FDI happens to be one of the most productive forms of private investment. Yet, in recent years governments have been busy erecting barriers to investment and trade when they should be deliberately taking them down. They will have to ditch that bad habit.' According to M. Ayhan Kose, the World Bank Group's Deputy Chief Economist, the sharp drop in FDI for developing countries 'should sound alarm bells'. Reversing the trend, Kose said, was not just an 'economic imperative' but also 'essential for job creation, sustained growth, and achieving broader development goals'. 'It will require bold domestic reforms to improve the business climate and decisive global cooperation to revive cross-border investment,' Kose said. In 2022, FDI into emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs) stood at $690 billion. While data for the 2023 calendar year is the latest available at a global level, FDI into India as per Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data increased to $81.04 billion in 2024-25 from $71.28 billion in 2023-24. However, net FDI into India – which adjusts the gross FDI number by deducting the funds repatriated by foreign investors and the investments made by Indian entities abroad – fell to just $353 million in the last fiscal from $10.13 billion in 2023-24. Among EMDEs, China has been the biggest receiver of FDI from 2012 to 2023, accounting for nearly one-third of these inflows. Brazil was second at 10 per cent and India third at 6 per cent, the World Bank said. According to the Bank, foreign investments are increasingly 'decoupling along geopolitical fault lines', with the US reducing its ties from China even as it increased trade and FDI links with India, Mexico, and Vietnam. 'Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 was followed by rapid divestment by foreign firms from Russia,' the World Bank said in its report 'Foreign Direct Investment in Retreat'. The release of the report on Monday comes ahead of the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development in Spain from June 30 to July 3. At the conference, representatives from governments, international institutions, civil society organisations, and the private sector are expected to discuss how to mobilise funds to achieve key global and national development goals at a time when global growth is slowing down, public debt is at record highs, and foreign aid budgets have been cut. Last week, the World Bank cut its global growth forecast for 2025 by 40 basis points to 2.3 per cent – the lowest since 2008 outside of outright global recessions – with Indermit Gill warning that outside of Asia, the developing world was becoming a 'development-free zone'. According to the World Bank, developing economies must redouble their efforts to attract FDI, starting with relaxing restrictions from the last decade and rapidly improving the investment climate. In addition, amplifying the economic benefits of FDI and advancing global cooperation were also identified as policy priorities. 'All countries should work together to accelerate policy initiatives that can help direct FDI flows to developing economies with the largest investment gaps,' the Bank said.
IOL News
02-06-2025
- Business
- IOL News
SA wants bold financial reforms to end Africa's debt crisis ahead of UN financing conference
Deputy Minister of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, Alvin Botes, said that debt must be sustainable and international development finance needs to be reimagined so that 'no school, clinic or innovator's dream is sacrificed on the altar of debt or indifference'. Image: Katlholo Maifadi / DIRCO News South Africa is calling for the upcoming 4th International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) to be a catalyst for change in how international development finance is structured so that no African nation suffers crippling aid debt. Deputy Minister of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, Alvin Botes, said that debt must be sustainable and international development finance needs to be reimagined so that 'no school, clinic or innovator's dream is sacrificed on the altar of debt or indifference'. FfD4, to be held in Seville, Spain between June 30 and July 3, 'must close the financial divide, attack inequality at its root and operationalise the Pact for the Future and the Global Digital Compact,' said Botes. FfD4, to be held under the auspices of the United Nations, seeks to address the urgent need to fully implement Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and support reform of the international financial architecture. Speaking at an event on illicit financial flows, mobilising domestic resources, and financing for development, hosted at SGN Grant Thornton's offices towards the end of last week, Botes also said that the global financing landscape is in disrepair. 'The G20 Common Framework has stalled, multilateral development banks deliver net negative flows, and unsustainable debt crowds out SDG spending,' the Deputy Minister said. South Africa, currently Presiding over the G20 until it hands the baton to the United States at the end of November, is ready to champion developing nations when it comes to their economic plight and unsustainable debt, said Botes. He noted that 43 of the world's 47 emerging nations are in Africa. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Next Stay Close ✕ 'The age of incrementalism has ended; the era of decisive, equitable and bold action begins now. South Africa is ready to lead, to support and to walk alongside every partner committed to justice, equity and shared progress,' Botes said. South Africa aims to use its Presidency to have the G20's Common Framework overhauled some five years after its creation during the COVID-19 pandemic as a mechanism to help relieve the economic impact caused by the plague. 'South Africa chairs this G20 year resolved to turn analysis into action and global consensus into ground-level change,' said Botes. Current international development financial frameworks are throttling emerging countries, which end up with unsustainable debt that 'crowds out' SDG spending, said Botes. He added that emerging markets need to 'participate equally in global decisions'. Botes also called for multilateral development banks to honour country ownership, credit rating agencies to reflect each country's fundamentals in their assessments and not prejudice them, and for developed economies to finally meet their Overseas Development Assistance and climate-finance commitments.
See - Sada Elbalad
21-05-2025
- Business
- See - Sada Elbalad
Al-Mashat Meets UN Assistant Secretary-General & UNDP Regional Director for Arab States to Discuss Enhancing Joint Relations
Rana Atef Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of Planning, Economic Development and International Cooperation and Egypt's Governor to the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), met with Dr. Abdallah Al-Dardari, UN Assistant Secretary-General and UNDP Director of the Regional Bureau for Arab States. This meeting took place during her participation in the 2025 Annual Meetings of the Islamic Development Bank Group held in Algeria, under the theme "Economic Diversification, Enriching Life." During the meeting, both sides reviewed the partnership framework between Egypt and the UNDP, within the broader partnership with the United Nations, and the implementation of the Strategic Framework for Cooperation for Sustainable Development 2023-2027. In this regard, Dr. Rania Al-Mashat emphasized the evolution of the partnership with the UNDP over the past years and its diversification across various fields that enhance development efforts. The two sides also touched on preparations for the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development in Spain next June, and its importance in reforming the global financial structure and exploring solutions to complex challenges facing the global development landscape. They also discussed joint events to be held by the Ministry of Planning, Economic Development and International Cooperation, in cooperation with the UNDP, during the conference to advance global efforts in climate finance and stimulate private sector participation. Dr. Rania Al-Mashat commended the effective participation of the UNDP with the Ministry of Planning, Economic Development and International Cooperation in launching the Integrated National Strategy for Financing Development last March. This strategy is a key document that highlights Egypt's approach to financing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and proposes an integrated national financing framework that serves as an umbrella encompassing various financing initiatives aimed at accelerating the achievement of the SDGs. In this context, Dr. Al-Mashat affirmed that the Ministry is moving towards the implementation phase, and expressed aspiration for continued support from the Programme in activating the strategy's action plan, particularly in coordination with development partners and other financial institutions. The goal is to translate Egypt's Vision 2030 and the SDGs into an integrated financing system that links planning and financing. Dr. Al-Mashat also expressed anticipation of continued cooperation with the Programme in preparing the Human Development Report for Egypt for 2025. A pivotal foundational workshop was organized on April 13, 2025, bringing together representatives from academia, civil society, and national institutions. She emphasized the importance of broad participation and the involvement of multiple stakeholders in formulating the report's vision and determining its analytical path. In a related context, the meeting reviewed Egypt's progress in the 2025 UNDP Human Development Index report, particularly regarding the improvement of healthcare services, years of schooling, and closing the gender gap. Dr. Al-Mashat highlighted the Ministry's endeavors to maximize economic development in order to bridge sectoral development gaps in various fields, especially in human and industrial development and other priority areas. Minister Al-Mashat also presented the national narrative for economic development that the Ministry seeks to launch in the coming period. This narrative aims to align Egypt's Vision 2030 with the government's action program by setting clear targets that contribute to boosting economic development and achieving the resilience of the Egyptian economy, with a focus on key sectors: macroeconomic stability and financing for development, industrial development, foreign direct investment, employment, and investment in human capital. Dr. Al-Mashat praised the Programme's support in preparing and publishing 27 local reports on localizing the SDGs. 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