Financing for small firms.

• Author: Gonzalez, Arancha

In September 2015, the international community gathered at United Nations Headquarters to adopt the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. An important component of ensuring the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are achieved is the financing behind them. The Addis Ababa Action Agenda, agreed at the Third International Conference on Financing for Development in July 2015, aimed to place on the spotlight on the need to mobilise the necessary financing.

The Addis Ababa Action Agenda contained broad commitments on financing and creating an enabling environment for sustainable development at all levels. For micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in developing countries--long known as drivers of prosperity--access to finance remains an ongoing challenge. In this issue of Trade Forum, we look at the financing landscape for MSMEs in developing countries given that this year's United Nations General Assembly convenes its first High-level Dialogue on Financing for Development since the adoption of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda.

In that landmark document, the international community committed to "exploring ways to use market-oriented incentives to expand WTO-compatible trade finance and the availability of trade credit, guarantees, insurance, factoring, letters of credit and innovative financial instruments, including for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in developing countries."

That financing questions are one of the many priorities at the 74th General Assembly is a clear signal of the economic realities facing countries in the decade remaining before the Sustainable Development Goals must be met. Despite current trade tensions and signs of a global slowdown, ITC research highlights that there is indeed enough money in the system to make a difference to the...