Liquidity and Debt Solutions to Invest in the SDGs: The Time to Act is Now

COVID-19 has caused an extraordinary socio-economic crisis throughout the world. More than a year into the coronavirus pandemic, the world is still in firefighting mode. Long-term economic scarring effects and an uneven recovery, potentially leading to a sharply diverging world, are also increasingly coming into focus. The severe fiscal impacts of the crisis are triggering debt distress in a growing number of countries, severely limiting the ability of many countries to invest in recovery, climate action, and the sustainable development goals (SDGs). The purpose of this policy brief is to take stock of the global policy response since April 2020, assess remaining gaps and challenges for their implementation, and propose updates to the original recommendations in light of developments over the last year.