thumbnail photos of all the participants in the High-level event on FFD

Initiative on Financing for Development in the Era of COVID-19 and Beyond

Co-convened by Canada, Jamaica and the United Nations

The COVID-19 pandemic and emergency measures to control it, such as lockdowns and travel restrictions, have put public health systems under stress and caused hundreds of millions around the world to lose their livelihoods overnight. As a result of the pandemic the world’s gross domestic product, foreign direct investment and remittances are estimated to drop in 2020 by 4.9 per cent, 40 per cent, and 20 per cent, respectively. In addition, in the second quarter of the year, hours of work dropped 14 per cent, equivalent to a loss of 400 million full-time jobs, and global merchandise trade declined by 18.5 percent.

While advanced economies have implemented an unprecedented fiscal and monetary policy response to address the crisis, the policy response in developing countries have been weaker because of their need to continue servicing their external debts amid plunging foreign exchange inflows. In this context, developing countries face the dual challenges of financing the response to the pandemic and avoiding a major debt crisis that could set back progress towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals for many years.

To articulate a large-scale, coordinated and comprehensive multilateral response, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, along with the Prime Ministers of Canada and Jamaica launched the Financing for Development in the Era of COVID-19 and Beyond initiative on 28th May 2020. Since then, six discussion groups composed of Member States of the United Nations and various international institutions have been launched to address the following topics: external finance and remittances, jobs and inclusive growth; recovering better for sustainability; Global liquidity and financial stability; debt vulnerability; private sector creditors engagement; and illicit financial flows.

The result will be a single, ambitious menu of options addressing all six topics for the short, medium and long term, and which fully reflects the variety of needs and views of Member States and stakeholders.

Heads of State and Government Meeting

The menu of options discussed by Ministers of Finance at the High-Level Event on 8 September 2020 will be presented for a decision at a special meeting of Heads of State and Government on the margins of the 75th United Nations General Assembly on 29th September 2020.

Following opening remarks by the United Nations Secretary-General and the Prime Ministers of Canada and Jamaica, the work of the six Discussion Groups and outcomes of the Ministerial meeting will be presented. Heads of State and Government and High-Level speakers of the international financial institutions, the private sector and civil society, and selected experts, will intervene. After the announcement of next steps, the meeting will conclude with closing remarks from the co-conveners.

Discussion Groups

To implement this response, the leaders proposed a pragmatic process to facilitate agreement on options to resolve the crisis. In its initial phase, six Discussion Groups will reach consensus on concrete actions and policy recommendations in the following areas:

The results of the Discussion Groups’ deliberations will be made available to all countries and participants at a meeting of Finance Ministers to take place on September 8th of 2020, and the outcome of this ministerial conference will be submitted to a summit-level meeting in the sidelines of the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly.