UNCTAD

This meeting will discuss policy options and recommendations to respond to and recover from external shocks, including the COVID-19 pandemic; demonstrate key policy tools and research findings of the project; and open a dialogue among policy makers and experts from different regions to share their experiences and learnings.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and development (UNCTAD) and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) will host a workshop entitled: “The role of innovative financing instruments to build forward better in Latin America and the Caribbean " which will take place virtually on the 19h and 20th of May. The purpose of the workshop is to discuss the potential use and applicability of innovative financing instruments in the Latin American and Caribbean region to bridge the liquidity gap faced by the region and improve its debt sustainability.

The hybrid meeting will bring together policymakers and experts from developing countries to discuss and share their policy experiences in the area of debt sustainability; particularly from the perspective of the UNCTAD Sustainable Development Finance Assessment (SDFA) framework which provides policy makers with an assessment of their external and public sector financial needs against the need to achieve or maintain external debt and public sector sustainability.

This is a webinar organized by UNCTAD, in collaboration with the Boston University and the Freie Universität Berlin. The webinar provides an opportunity to showcase the Global Financial Safety Net (GFSN) tracker with emphasis on the relative importance of the different liquidity options and the income-group profile during the COVID-19 pandemic. The workshop brings together experts on the GFSN, representatives of member countries, policymakers and central bankers from beneficiary countries.

This side event of the UN ECOSOC Financing for Development Forum will present and discuss the latest outputs linked to two tools: the Global Financial Safety Net Tracker and the Sustainable Development Finance Assessment framework, to help developing countries frame their responses in an unstable and uncertain international environment.

The causes and widespread negative effects of the global financial and economic crisis prompted UNCTAD to launch an initiative in 2009 to promote responsible sovereign lending and borrowing practices. The purpose of UNCTAD’s initiative is to provide a forum for debate on responsible practices and to develop a set of commonly accepted principles and practices relating to sovereign debt.

This webinar aims to provide an open and realistic discussion among policy-makers and scholars about economic policy alternatives ahead, as well as an exploration of the possibilities to strengthen mechanisms for global and regional coordination, especially South-South cooperation, which could serve as the basis for policy action by developing countries operating in an uneven world economy.

The fifth session of the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Financing for Development will be held from 21 to 23 March 2022 both virtually and at the Palais des Nations, Geneva. The discussions at the session will address the following topic: "Financing for development: Mobilizing sustainable development finance beyond Covid-19".

The virtual seminar aims to enhance understanding of aspects of external financial liquidity and sustainability by showcasing two developments of the COVID-19 project: 1. The UNCTAD-Boston University-Freie Universität Global Financial Safety Net Tracker, which tracks liquidity provision  for all UN member states from different sources – including the IMF, Regional Financial Arrangements and bilateral central bank swaps. 2. The Sustainable Development Finance Assessment (SDFA) – a framework which examines the capacity of developing countries to achieve the most significant SDGs in a way that is compatible with external financial and public debt sustainability.

This experts’ workshop, jointly hosted by ECLAC and UNCTAD, will bring together central bank officials from Latin America, academics, and UN agencies to discuss the initial findings of these studies, exchange experiences, and promote a better understanding of the advantages and drawbacks of different variants of capital account management and macroprudential policies and techniques that can be applied.