2022 Financing for Sustainable Development Report - Press conference (12 March 2022)

The United Nations of Earth reporting on this issue: "2022 Financing for Sustainable Development Report - Press conference (12 March 2022)"
The topics: Speaking at the launch of the 2022 edition of the Financing for Sustainable Development Report, Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said, “without immediate policy action the window for delivering on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development will close. Yet, instead of action, once again we are seeing the countries the least responsible for a crisis paying the highest price.” Mohammed told reporters in New York that, “this report is coming at a critical moment for humanity.” She said, “adding to the compounding crises of climate, assaults on our natural systems, and the protracted COVID-19 pandemic, the fall-out from the war in Ukraine is rapidly impacting food, energy, and finance across the globe.” The recommendations in today’s new report, Mohammed said, “point to a way forward”. She said, “the international community must urgently address financing gaps and rising debt risks” and added that “it would be a tragedy if donors increased their military expenditure at the expense of Official Development Assistance and climate action.” Policy makers, Mohammed said, “must ensure that financing is aligned with the SDGs and climate action” and “climate-related risks should also be integrated into debt contracts and financial frameworks.” She also called for the improvement of information ecosystems in order to strengthen the ability of countries to manage risks and use resources well and in line with sustainable development. The report indicates that the COVID-19 pandemic has put more countries at risk of debt distress, constrained their fiscal space and hampered economic growth. Also speaking at the launch, the Director, Office for Financing for Sustainable Development, Navid Hanif, said, “during the pandemic, developed countries were able to borrow money at one percent, developing countries, eight percent. And we did analysis. If you look at the credit worthiness of countries in Europe and Africa, some countries are not far apart, but the borrowing rate is four to five percent higher than in Europe.” This great finance divide, the report states, leaves developing countries unable to respond to crises and invest in sustainable development. On average, developed countries use 3.5 per cent of revenue to pay interest on their debt, versus 14 percent of revenue for the least developed countries. About 60 percent of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and other low-income countries are now assessed at a high risk of or in debt distress, double the 30 percent in 2015. The Ukraine conflict is compounding stresses, through higher energy and commodity prices, renewed supply chain disruptions, higher inflation coupled with lower growth, and increased volatility in financial markets.


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