The Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development in Sevilla ended with a long list of action plans, optimism about multilateralism’s survival, and lingering questions about how much of it will stick.
For the experts watching closely, Sevilla wasn’t the end point. Rather, it was the start of a decade that could reshape the architecture of development finance — if the promises made there can be translated into action.
Experts say that they left Sevilla feeling more hopeful that the debt crisis will be addressed, with a sense that there will be increased focus on financing regional institutions, improvements to localization, and the championing of blended finance to make sure development projects can attract private finance and improve economies long term.