that foster growth, poverty reduction, and other development outcomes without imposing undue burden on the assessment process (World Bank 2018h).

# **E. Raising awareness of the challenges for meeting the SDGs**

The WBG utilizes its advantage at producing high-quality analytical products to raise awareness of the obstacles to achieving the SDGs and the impact of not achieving the SDGs. For instance, Mani et al. (2018) demonstrate that higher temperatures and shifting precipitation patterns will reduce living standards of more than 800 million people across South Asia. The changes in average weather projected under the carbon-intensive scenario could reduce total GDP by $171 billion in Bangladesh, $1,178 billion in India, and $50 billion in Sri Lanka by 2050. It calls for actions to invest in targeted policies and actions to build climate resilience throughout the region. The 2017 World Development Report, _Governance and the Law_ , illustrates how poor governance and weak rule of law could generate ineffective policies that hinder security, growth, and equity (World Bank 2017c). In addition, the Development Impact Evaluation (DIME) program services the global community of researchers by developing case studies, customized data, and evidence ecosystems to produce actionable information and recommend specific policy pathways to maximize impact on development outcomes.

# **F. Broadening the sources of SDG-related financing**

The WBG is acutely aware of limited fiscal space in many of its client countries in its assessments of investment needs. Although the precise magnitude is uncertain, the existence of sizable investment needs to achieve the SDGs in emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs), even in an environment of highly efficient spending and comprehensive policy reforms, is undisputed. Yet limited fiscal space and rising debt in EMDEs has constrained public funding to meet these investment needs.<sup>21</sup> Together with other factors, fiscal pressures are expected to extend an already prolonged period of subdued investment growth in EMDEs, despite the need to ramp up investment to make progress toward the SDGs (Appendix 1).

In several strategic documents, the WBG has recognized the large amount of investment—both domestic and external—needed to meet the SDGs, and that ODA represents only part of the external financing sources needed.<sup>22</sup> The institution has also advocated for additional sources of financing to achieve the goals. A 2015 Development Committee paper, “From Billions to Trillions: Transforming Development Finance,” underscored the need to shift the debate on SDG financing from purely ODA financing (estimated around $135 billion) to mobilizing investments of all kinds—public and private, domestic and international (Development Committee 2015b). This paper also shifted the development focus to national reform efforts, effective use of development assistance, and harnessing the benefits that private sector financing can bring. The Financing for

> 21 As shown in World Bank (2019b), government debt has risen substantially in EMDEs, by an average of 15 percentage points of GDP since 2007 to 51 percent of GDP in 2018. In LICs, government debt rose by 14 percentage points of GDP during the same period, to 46 percent of GDP in 2018 after falling to a trough of 32 percent of GDP in 2012. Partially due to subdued output growth, debt has been on a steadily rising trajectory among 82 EMDEs during 1990-2018.

> 22 ODA, including through IDA, remains a critical source of financing for the poorest countries, however. For some of the poorest countries, fragility, conflict, and violence is a key obstacle, in addition to financing, to achieving the SDGs.

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