This paper sets out all the financial resources potentially available for development, examines their key characteristics, and discusses their poverty and sustainable development impacts, and the implications for aid. This discussion could not come at a more important time. Aid is under severe pressure as donors seek to cut budgets and to reorient aid to more clearly attribute direct ‘results’ to it. Recent initiatives at European and donor level have sought to change the focus of the aid debate towards stimulating the private sector, including emphasizing the role of private flows, particularly foreign investment. At the same time, the development community is gearing up to decide what targets should replace the Millennium Development Goals. Incorporating financing into this framework will be vitally important. [...]