Sustainability Language

Sustainable Finance & Investment

Development finance

The flow of public and private financial resources toward the economic development and welfare of developing countries, anchored by OECD DAC statistics.

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Definition

Development finance encompasses the grants, concessional loans, equity, guarantees and private capital mobilised to promote the economic development and welfare of developing countries. Its best-defined component is official development assistance (ODA): government aid to countries on the OECD DAC list, concessional in character, with defined grant-element thresholds. The OECD DAC has measured these flows since 1961, and ODA makes up over two-thirds of external finance for least-developed countries.

References

OECD

ODA role and scale

OECD

concessional thresholds and measurement

Overview

What it means

The funding architecture behind the SDGs — from aid grants to blended finance and multilateral development bank lending.

How it is used

The term structures aid targets, concessional lending rules, and debates on mobilising private capital and reforming development banks.

Why it matters

Sustainability outcomes in developing economies depend on the scale, terms and additionality of development finance; it is the reference frame for climate-finance and biodiversity-finance commitments.

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