Financing for development in Latin America and the Caribbean

Excerpt:

This document was prepared for the Latin American and Caribbean Regional Consultation on Financing for Development, held at the headquarters of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in Santiago, on 12 and 13 March 2015, in preparation for the Third International Conference on Financing for Development (Addis Ababa, July 2015)...

The post-2015 development agenda will bring a profound transformation in sustainable development and will require a vast mobilization of resources, along with a change in their funding, organization and allocation This profound transformation reflects the commitment to a universal approach to sustainable development, taking into account all the different country income groups, considering sustainability concerns in all activities and addressing the drivers of climate change, as well as ensuring respect for human rights in all actions in accordance with international standards.

It also reflects a broad list of development concerns including the need to eradicate poverty by 2030, the guarantee of equitable access to education and health care for all, the transformation of economies to achieve a more socially inclusive form of productive development, putting equality at the heart of development, and the promotion of safe, peaceful societies and strong institutions...

Although the post-2015 development goals have still to be defined precisely, it is clear that the sums needed to achieve economic, social and environmental development objectives and preserve the global commons far exceed the capacity of traditional development flows. Public flows will be insufficient for this task and will have to be complemented with private flows, which in fact constitute the bulk of external financing for middle-income countries, including those of Latin America and the Caribbean.

Latin American and Caribbean countries must address the challenge of channelling private inflows towards production needs and development in an effective manner. This involves blending private and public resources, in order to achieve the leverage required to maximize the impact for development financing.

This title is also available in Spanish:

Financiamiento para el desarrollo en América Latina y el Caribe : Un análisis estratégico desde la perspectiva de los países de renta media