Financing for Sustainable Development Report

The 2021 Financing for Sustainable Development Report (FSDR) of the Inter-agency Task Force on Financing for Development warns that COVID-19 could lead to a lost decade for development. The report highlights the risk of a sharply diverging world in the near term where the gaps between rich and poor widen because some countries lack the necessary financial resources to combat the COVID-19 crisis and its socioeconomic impact. Short-term risks are compounded by growing systemic risks that threaten to further derail progress, such as climate change.  The report recommends immediate actions to prevent this scenario and put forward solutions to mobilize investments in people and in infrastructure to rebuild better. It also lay outs reforms for the global financial and policy architecture to ensure that it is supportive of a sustainable and resilient recovery and aligned with the 2030 Agenda.

The 2021 FSDR begins with an assessment of the impact of the pandemic on the global macroeconomic context (chapter I), including a discussion of the interlinkages between economic, social (e.g. health, inequality), and environmental (e.g. climate) risks. The thematic chapter (chapter II) explores of the growth of global systemic risk, with a view to identify policy options for financing that is sustainable and resilient, and that ensure that sustainability and resilience are financed. The remainder of the report (Chapters III.A to III.G and IV) discusses progress, challenges, and policy options across the seven action areas of the Addis Agenda—including in response to the current crisis and future risks.

The 2021 FSDR is the sixth report on implementing the Financing for Development outcomes and the means of implementation of the SDGs since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda. The assessment draws on the expertise, analysis and data from more than 60 agencies and international institutions that make up the Task Force, which is led by UN DESA with the World Bank Group, the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organisation, UNCTAD and UNDP in leading roles.