Steiner said during a conference in Hamburg that the financial crisis means that countries around the world are struggling to achieve the goals, a set of 17 wide-ranging goals such as tackling poverty and hunger, improving access to education and health care, providing clean energy and protecting biodiversity.
“For many of the least developed countries, which were literally cut off from the financial markets. They cannot borrow any more money,” Steiner said at the Hamburg Sustainability Conference, adding that they had to cut spending to avoid defaulting on debt.
Countries such as: Ghana Sri Lanka and Zambia have defaulted on their debts in the past few years, while other countries are struggling to make payments after a cycle of global interest rate hikes pushed up borrowing costs.
At the same time, the world needs trillions of additional dollars annually to meet spending targets to combat climate change. Steiner said that strengthening financing is “absolutely pivotal” to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, something that his organization is closely monitoring.
The World Bank announced in July that it had begun operating a comprehensive investment loan and guarantee platform with the aim of doubling the provision of guarantees and risk insurance provided worldwide to $20 billion annually.
