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Speakers at Seville conference urge use of public funds to unlock private finance for SDGs
Summary
A presenter at an international development meeting in Seville urged using public development banks and regulatory reform to mobilize private investment and close a stated $4 trillion sustainable development financing gap, citing recent drops in infrastructure investment and foreign direct investment.
Speaker 2, presenter, told attendees in Seville that “Development is everyone's business. And the private sector is an essential partner in helping countries climb the development ladder and achieve the sustainable development goals.”
The presenter said the world faces a $4,000,000,000,000 financing shortfall to meet the Sustainable Development Goals and described declines in capital flowing to developing countries: “Last year, investments in infrastructure in developing countries dropped by 35%, including in key sectors like renewable energy, water, and sanitation. And foreign direct investment has declined 2 years in a row, with investments flows largely bypassing least developed countries altogether.”
The presenter framed the conference in Seville as an opportunity to change course, citing a “civil commitment document” that proposes steps to channel public and private finance to areas of greatest need. Those steps, as described in the remarks, include overhauling approaches to sovereign debt, reforming the global financial architecture, strengthening ways to blend public and private capital, and creating new approaches to manage currency risk so promising projects can secure necessary capital. The remarks also called for reviewing financial regulations so risk weightings do not discourage institutional investors from projects in frontier markets.
On the role of public development banks, the presenter urged a shift in practice: public funds should be used to “multiply resources through derisking private finance and private investments, giving guarantees, establishing coalitions in which they are the first risk takers, and creating the conditions to massively increase the private finance and private investment” in countries where development is otherwise “practically impossible” without such measures.
Earlier in the event an introducer addressed the Prime Minister of Spain and participants, and the presenter closed by urging cooperation among public and private sectors to make the conference “the beginning of a new action based era” in financing development.
No formal decisions, votes, or binding commitments were recorded in the provided transcript excerpt.
