International lenders plan to extend 400 bln U.S. dollars for SDGs

Multilateral development banks (MDBs) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) unveiled plans on Friday to extend more than 400 billion U.S. dollars in financing over the next three years to back the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The SDGs are set to relay the U.N. Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) this year.

The banks, including the African Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, European Investment Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and World Bank, vowed to work more closely with private and public sector partners to help mobilize the resources needed to meet the historic challenge of the SDGs.

According to a multilateral statement, the ambitious SDGs plan to tap the "billions" of dollars in current official development assistance (ODA) and all available resources to attract, leverage and mobilize "trillions" in investments of all kinds -- public and private, national and global.

ODA, estimated at 135 billion dollars a year, provides a fundamental source of financing, the statement said.

"Meeting the staggering but achievable needs of the SDG agenda requires everyone to make the best use of each dollar from every source, and draw in and increase public and private investment," said the statement.

"The MDBs - the engines of development finance -- are looking to a range of options for scaling up," it noted.

Additional steps to leverage more resources include the development of new approaches and tools to help developing countries play a stronger role in harnessing national resources, according to the statement.

The MDBs and the IMF are partnering with countries on, for example, the introduction of a new toolkit to assess and improve tax policies and expanding instruments such as e-procurement to achieve better government spending.

Increasing external resource flows to developing countries for investment are essential to achieving the SDGs, but these flows can be expected to materialize only in circumstances where countries have coherent development strategies and macroeconomic stability, and the key public sector services and a business environment supportive of growth are ensured.

The private sector is playing an increasing role in financing goods, services and infrastructure. The MDBs are committed to engaging differently with private sector partners on a wide range of interventions, including connecting investors with opportunities, helping countries make investments more attractive, and building local financial markets.

When adopted in September 2015 by governments, the SDGs will succeed the MDGs that come to a close this year. Endi