Launch of the 2026 Financing for Sustainable Development Report - Press Conference | United Nations

A new UN report warns that global financing for development is under growing pressure, threatening decades of progress. At the launch of the 2026 Financing for Sustainable Development Report: Implementing the Sevilla Commitment (FSDR 2026), Li Junhua, UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, said, “Development progress is imperiled by global fragmentation, geopolitical tensions and conflict. Developing countries are trapped in a catastrophic financing squeeze from compounding shocks.” Many developing countries, especially the poorest and most vulnerable, are struggling with a severe financing squeeze. Debt payments are at their highest level in two decades, development aid is declining, and foreign investment has dropped for the second year in a row, making it harder for countries to invest in health, education and climate resilience. Li Junhua reported, “Development aid is falling sharply. In 2025, 25 countries decreased their Official Development Assistance (ODA), leading to a 23 percent overall drop from 2024 to 2025, the largest annual contraction on record. Only four countries met the 0.7 per cent target – Denmark, Luxembourg, Norway, and Sweden. Based on preliminary data, ODA is expected to further decline by another 5.8 percent in 2026. Developing countries, especially the poorest, face mounting debt, with debt service burdens hitting 20-year highs.” Geopolitical tensions and global fragmentation are also making cooperation and financial reforms harder to achieve. Li Junhua said, “Pressures have intensified, with a financing squeeze and increasing fragmentation exacerbated by conflicts. The recent conflict in the Middle East, for instance, has triggered a significant shock to an already fragile global economy. While the ultimate impact will depend on the conflict’s duration and severity, and the resulting arrangements for shipping and trade, we are already seeing clear repercussions for developing countries in relation to energy, food, trade and debt sustainability.” The report urges stronger international collaboration and investment to close the $4 trillion annual development financing gap. Despite challenges, progress in renewable energy, South-South cooperation, and early implementation efforts offers a path forward.


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