The UN's Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that will end in December next has been replaced by another 15-year Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the 70th session of the UN general Assembly in New York. According to information available here, the 17 new sustainable development goals (SDGs) and 169 associated targets are aimed at stimulating actions towards building a more equitable and sustainable world over the next 15 years.
 Unlike the MDGs, the SDGs have been developed through a process that includes inputs from all 193 member states of the UN. It would indeed be interesting to watch how the developed economies (with a few notable exceptions) are going to reverse what they have systematically achieved over the decades in concentrating their national wealth in fewer hands in the next 15 years time.
Only few weeks ago it was published in this newspaper that the top one per cent of the Americans are taking home 20 per cent of the country's total income and own at least 38 per cent of the national wealth. The richest 400 American people have more wealth than the bottom 150 million people in the world's richest country.
The same trend in wealth concentration in fewer hands has also been noticed in Bangladesh in the last three decades and attempts have to be made to reverse this trend through suitable policy framework and their proper implementation. The SDGs, in fact, are calling for that.  Â
Anyway, be all that as it may, the London-based Action Aid's Dhaka office and Planning Commission's General Economic Division (GED) have jointly organised a meeting on September 21 to discuss how the country could finance the implementation of 17 major Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs) once they are finalised. The Action Aid country director Farah Kabir moderated. Participants in the meeting pointed out that whatever success has been achieved in implementing the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Bangladesh was substantially financed locally. For example, Bangladesh was promised $3 billion in foreign assistance to help implement the MDGs by the development partners, but in reality only $1.78 billion was received. The rest had to be made available locally. In some cases, delays in fund availability resulted in acceleration of project costs. Planning Commission member Shamsul Alam, who attended the meeting, said that despite low assistance, Bangladesh achieved most of the millennium development goals (MDGs). Certainly it's a plus point. However, how much money would be needed to implement the 17-point SDGs has not yet been worked out but those involved in the exercise believe it would be much more than the MDGs.
Interestingly, none of the participants in the meeting discussed the curse of existing economic disparities and acceleration in the concentration of wealth even in this poor country because of lack of policy direction, transparency and governance. However, they focused more on how to develop the economic capacity to handle the increased burden of implementing the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and suggested that one of the basic tasks is to raise the tax-GDP ratio from the present 12 per cent to at least 14 per cent. The current tax-GDP ratio is one of the lowest in the world.          Â
Now, how to augment the country's income? Economists working in the government and outside said that 80 per cent of all economic activities are handled by the private sector, so this sector has to be energised. The developed economies can help by providing some funds but the major contribution would be in the form of transfer of technology and trade.
In this context, Saleemul huq, senior fellow of International Institute for Environment and Development said, "Bangladesh should not bother about development assistance too much" and suggested that instead, it can try and get assistance from the global climate financing
initiative.
Pointing out that climate polluters have to provide $100 billion a year from 2020 to the climate change fund which will go to the victim countries. Mr. Huq said, Bangladesh can get money from this source. "The more we will able to utilise properly, the more funds we will get," he added. He said there is plenty of hope but the recipient country would also have to be careful about two important criteria for getting the fund: a) spend the money well and transparently; b) it has to demonstrate that it is getting results.
However, in view of the global economic scenario, it remains to be seen how far the SDGs succeed in achieving the challenges of mitigating disparities that loom so starkly on most countries irrespective of whether they are rich or poor. Â
sayed.kamaluddin@gmail.com
The economy and financing the SDGs
Sayed Kamaluddin | Published: September 30, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00
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