Date: 23rd August 2026.
Speaking at the United Nations Small Island Developing States Forum held in Male, Maldives held in collaboration with the Government of Maldives on 23rd August 2026, Rajiv Biswas, CEO of Asia-Pacific Economics, a macroeconomics research and risk intelligence group, discussed a range of financial instruments for mobilizing private capital flows for sustainable development in developing countries.
“The role of private financing for economic development is becoming increasingly important as development assistance budgets of advanced economies are becoming constrained by rising government debt burdens and domestic fiscal challenges,” said Rajiv Biswas, CEO of Asia-Pacific Economics. “There are a wide range of financing instruments that are being used to mobilize private sector finance for developing nations, including green bonds and blended finance.” Said Rajiv Biswas. “Country risk in many developing countries remains a key hurdle for private sector financial institutions, so risk mitigation instruments can play an important role to help catalyse private financial flows.”
Biswas highlighted the example of Singapore, which has become an important global hub for green financing over the past five years. Building on the strength of its capital markets, Singapore has targeted raising 35 billion Singapore dollars in public sector green bonds by 2030 for green financing. This will deepen Singapore’s green financing market and Singapore’s Green Bond Framework provides a model for other countries. Singapore has also been a global leader through its FAST-P “Financing Asia’s Transition Partnership” initiative for blended finance led by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
“Mobilizing greater private sector foreign direct investment (FDI) flows will also be one important pathway to boosting long-term private financing flows for developing nations,” said Rajiv Biswas. “A key focus in the decade ahead will need to be on boosting foreign direct investment to the most vulnerable developing nations, notably the Small Island Developing States, the Least Developed Countries and the Land-Locked Developing Countries,” said Biswas.
“Creating other mechanisms for boosting private capital flows for development financing will also be critical, notably innovative new instruments for diaspora financing from the estimated 300 million workers from developing countries working abroad and remitting money back home,” said Rajiv Biswas. “The Asia-Pacific region is the largest recipient of remittance inflows globally at around USD 330 billion. As a share of GDP, the seven APAC countries with the highest remittance receipts are Tonga, Samoa, Nepal, Vanuatu, the Marshall Islands, Timor Leste and Fiji. This highlights the importance of remittance flows for the economies of many small island developing states.”
“Boosting South-South trade and investment flows has also become a key priority, to increase trade and investment flows between developing nations worldwide. Developing countries have become an increasingly important source of foreign direct investment flows to other developing countries,” said Rajiv Biswas.
Note to Media: Please feel free to quote with attribution to Rajiv Biswas, CEO, Asia-Pacific Economics.
Asia-Pacific Economics is an economic research group which provides geopolitical and macroeconomic analysis and risk intelligence for the global and Asia-Pacific economies.