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Creating enabling environments and the capacity to access and generate multidimensional financing for development, climate change and enhanced resilience, remains challenging amid global pressures. One feasible approach is to revisit the criteria for financing allocation and the management of earmarked international transfers and debt relief.

This paper presents fiscal policy options for resilient and sustainable development in the context of ever-increasing and diverse shocks and uncertainties, discussing how the appropriate design and mix of national and subnational tax and public investment regimes can best ensure the stable provision of essential services and local infrastructure.

As countries recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, and face the compounding challenges of global inflation, debt, climate change and sociopolitical scenarios, there is a need to explore new investment strategies to accelerate economic development, build resilience and balance competing environmental, economic and social pressures. In this context, the concept of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) as a framework for sustainable growth has gained new relevance. This paper discusses the potential benefits of ESG in terms of enabling sustainable economic growth in the Commonwealth, including possible technical assistance, capacity building and policy development on ESG for public debt management and improved public sector sustainability, including collaboration with International Financial Institutions financing standards.

Remittances to the Gambia have been steadily increasing. In 2021, The Gambia received US$777 million in remittances (63 per cent of its GDP). In 2014 the Gambia was the 10th highest remittance receiving country in the world and the 3rd highest in Africa. Recognizing the important role the diaspora plays in The Gambia, in recent years the Government has put in place several initiatives aimed at enhancing diaspora engagement and investment including the Migration and Sustainable Development in The Gambia (MSDG) project, which is now in phase 2; as well as the formation of a Diaspora directorate.