Governments of developing Asia-Pacific countries are in urgent need of affordable and long-term financing as many of them are being forced to choose between servicing debt in a high interest rate environment or investing in education, health and social protection for their people, according to the 2024 Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific released today by the United Nations regional commission.
New perspectives and approaches can solve this long-standing challenge. Donors should prioritize the development financing needs of recipient countries over political interests. Multilateral development banks need to improve their lending capacities, including through fresh capital injections. Credit rating agencies should adopt a long-term perspective and appreciate that public investments to realize shared development ambitions raises fiscal credibility over time.
On the domestic front, the Survey recomm
