The financing needs to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals were substantial even before the COVID-19 pandemic; $1.5 trillion for the Asia-Pacific region or 5 per cent of region’s combined GDP. The pandemic has rolled back decades of economic progress, wrought havoc on public finances and exacerbated such financing challenges. To build back better, effectively pursue the Sustainable Development Goals and tackle climate change, sizable investments, especially by the public sector, needs to be sustainably financed.  

The latest issue of ESCAP’s Financing for Development Series, Financing the SDGs to build back better from the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia and the Pacific, reviews a range of financing instruments, strategies and mechanisms that can help Asia-Pacific economies recover from the pandemic, effectively pursue the SDGs, and support climate action. The report builds on the global initiative of the United Nations system on Financing for Development in the Era of COVID-19 and Beyond. The initiative put forward a comprehensive menu of policy options that can help member States finance economic recovery and accelerate progress towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement.

The report starts with a discussion on the importance of ensuring access to vaccines, and then delves into policy considerations that can help countries address rising debt vulnerabilities, deal with taxation- related aspects of illicit financial flows, and strengthen the role of national development banks in support of Sustainable Development Goals. In two dedicated chapters, the report takes a “deep dive” on the role of innovative sustainable and digital finance strategies to address the financing gaps and suggests key regulatory and solution-oriented policy actions that can help scale-up financing in support of the Sustainable Development Goals.