The Road to the SDGs

X Both developed and developing countries urgently need large-scale funding to help maintain economic activity and jobs during the current pandemic. MDBs should: – Collectively devise future adaptive strategies that will address an anticipated paradigm shift from MCs – Be ready to fill the competitive technological opportunity gaps – Envision new adaptive business models, with employee and consumer expectations fully integrated through proactive and affordable technological architecture. X MDBs will need to invest heavily in digitisation in the following areas: – Fintech solutions that can reduce costs of doing business, increase efficiency, allow firms and individuals to transact seamlessly and instantaneously, and enable a deep personalisation of financial services – E-learning, e-commerce, e-banking, e-health technologies and e-governance – Powerful IT platforms that will combine blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI) to facilitate data- driven solutions and decision making with greater convenience, accuracy and speed – Country digital platforms for MDBs, MCs and other private and public entities to enhance the transparency and coordination of transactions – Investment in new AI-powered analytics to help predict the impact of COVID-19 through a multitude of scenarios under certain assumptions. ACHIEVEMENTS X The global responses of MDBs have been tailored to address the threat to life in a proactive manner. This has included: – Short-term emergency health sector financing – Accelerated infrastructure investment financing – Unconventional financing – Infrastructure project financing. X MDBs also targeted SMEs, mid-caps working capital and trade finance, and health sector response with a focus on financing the acquisition of consumables and medical equipment. X In order to speed up the disbursement of the approved funds in priority to the most affected countries, MDBs agreed to soften the lending and procurement rules and procedures as well as partnership legal arrangements. INVESTMENT X MDBs pooled their efforts to secure an overall COVID-19 envelope of approximatively US$ 300 billion (over 15 months) and US$ 3–4 trillion is being provided by the International Monetary Fund to support the lending capacity of affected countries. X To secure sustainable growth in the countries they serve after the COVID-19 pandemic, MDBs will need to invest resources in addressing the following issues: – Shifting the global supply chain to design new regional and national value chains close to the end-user or consumer – Rethinking a balanced socioeconomic development model that looks for equitable development and climate-change mitigation technology – Protecting the workforce and the economy of each country (health, financial and economic containment measures) – Managing the overall economic, financial, social and health risks to ensure BC – Considering which investment areas and labour polices will help drive productivity remotely – Leveraging technological solutions quickly for the benefit of MCs – Jointly implementing strategies to provide access to clean and affordable technology – Unlocking untapped private sector financial resources and turning them into bankable investments – Enhancing political and economic governance – Establishing financial solutions that are best suited to individual MCs going forward. M A N A G I N G A N D M I T I G A T I N G T H E C O V I D - 1 9 C R I S I S MDBs have pooled their efforts to secure an overall COVID-19 envelope of approximatively US$300 billion over 15 months The Heads of MDBs reaffirmed that IsDB’s P5P focus on smart, green, inclusive and resilient GVCs should be at the core of MDBs’ mandate in the future [ 215 ] T H E R O A D T O T H E S D G s | P R O G R E S S A N D A C H I E V E M E N T S