Executive summary

While turning the “billions into trillions” is essential to bridge the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) financing gaps, there is a need also to focus on the quality of resources mobilised and how they reach those being left behind. While international and domestic public finance remains essential to meet the SDGs, public resources alone will not be enough. The challenge is particularly acute in the least developed countries (LDCs), which have experienced a recent decline in official development assistance (ODA). LDCs also often find it difficult to attract private investment, including foreign direct investment. Increased public and private financial flows must therefore be made to work for the world’s most vulnerable countries, for underserved markets, and for smaller projects in the so-called “missing middle” – those small and medium-sized enterprises that are too big to access microfinance but too small or seen as being too risky to access commercial loans offered by mainstream financial institutions.