Debt and development finance | UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD)15

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Debt and Debt Sustainability

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Sovereign Debt Restructuring

Debt Management and Financial Analysis System

News

Countries agree $300 billion by 2035 for new climate finance goal – what next?

Here’s a deeper look at the new target for post-2025 climate finance and what more the international community needs to do to deliver concrete progress.

10 Dec 2024

High cost of finance stifles development, deepens inequalities: UN Trade and Development chief

Secretary-General Rebeca Grynspan said high borrowing costs stifle growth and drain financial resources, restricting investments in infrastructure, social services, and climate action.

25 Nov 2024

A drop in the ocean: Carbon markets have provided limited finance for least developed countries

In 2023, the market value of carbon credits from these vulnerable economies sat at $403 million – just 1% of total bilateral development aid.

5 Nov 2024

A new climate finance goal is on the horizon. How can developing countries benefit?

Global climate finance needs a quantum leap in both quantity and quality to address developing economies’ needs for a just transition towards sustainability and resilience.

4 Nov 2024

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Featured Podcast

Bretton Woods at 80: Why the global financial system needs big changes to boost sustainable development

With the annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund happening this month, The Weekly Tradecast is looking at Bretton Woods with special guest Danny Quah, Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore.

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Featured event

Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Financing for Development, eighth session

25 - 27 Nov 2024

External debt sustainability and development

Every year, UNCTAD prepares the United Nations Secretary-General´s report to the General Assembly on external debt, which reviews the most recent developments and analyses key issues related to the external debt of developing countries.

Some additional topics raised in the General Assembly report include the role of credit rating agencies, the need to develop an international sovereign debt workout mechanism, the risks posed by the shift towards greater accumulation of domestic debt, the need for improved data reporting, progress in debt relief initiatives, delivery of ODA.

Featured publication

External shocks and financial stress post the global financial crisis - UNCTAD financial conditions indicators and financial vulnerabilities in emerging markets

The objective of this paper is to measure and track financial stress in these six fragile emerging economies in the aftermath of the global financial crisis of 2008, using UNCTAD financial conditions indicators.

The paper argues that there is a need for better tools to measure financial stress in the context of growing instabilities and complexities in international and domestic financial markets.

PSI-UNCTAD Briefs on Workers and Debt

This five-part series on sovereign and public debt examines what happens when public spending leads to indebtedness, why indebtedness of the state is perceived to be a problem, what debt means for the sovereignty of the state, and how all this impacts workers.