{
  "title": "Give Today’s Children a Chance",
  "publication": "IMF Blog, September 24, 2018",
  "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/en/blogs/articles/2018/09/24/blog-give-today-children-a-chance",
  "canonical": "https://www.imf.org/en/blogs/articles/2018/09/24/blog-give-today-children-a-chance",
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  "summary": "World leaders are gathering at the United Nations to discuss how to deliver on development for all that is economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable—“The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).",
  "sections": [
    {
      "heading": "The long road towards development",
      "content": "- Since 1990 alone, over a billion people have lifted themselves out of extreme poverty.\n- Example contrasts:\n  - Sri (grandmother): annual income was US$1,500; high maternal and infant mortality risk described.\n  - Tuti (granddaughter): annual income of US$11,200; low risk of dying during childbirth or losing a child.\n- Indonesia is progressing: government plans to fund education, health, and infrastructure by increasing tax revenues.\n  - Boosting revenues by an additional five percentage points of GDP over five years would ensure that Indonesia is on track to meet the SDGs by 2030.\n- A contrasting case: Benin\n  - A girl born in Benin today has the same life expectancy as an Indonesian woman born 40 years ago.\n  - Benin has about the same income per capita as Indonesia did at that time.\n  - Even if Benin were to replicate Indonesia’s fast progress, it would be 2050 before Benin’s girls would reach the development standards available to Indonesian girls in 2030.\n- Low-income countries need to increase spending in education, health, water and sanitation, roads, and electricity."
    },
    {
      "heading": "The big challenge: SDG financing gap for low-income developing countries",
      "content": "- The IMF analyzed five critical areas: education, health, water and sanitation, roads, and electricity.\n- Estimated additional spending needs:\n  - Low-income developing countries need additional annual outlays of 14 percentage points of GDP on average.\n  - Across 49 low-income developing countries, additional spending needs amount to about US$520 billion a year.\n- The US$520 billion a year estimate is stated as being in the same ballpark as other institutions’ estimates.\n- Conclusion: Significant new spending is needed to give all children a fair chance by 2030."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Addressing SDG spending needs — policy priorities for countries",
      "content": "- Primary responsibility: low-income developing countries must own the SDG agenda and prioritize reforms to support sustainable, inclusive growth.\n- Key country-level actions:\n  - Strengthen macroeconomic management.\n  - Enhance tax capacity.\n  - Tackle spending inefficiencies.\n  - Address corruption that undermines inclusive growth.\n  - Foster business environments where the private sector can thrive.\n- Role of the IMF: work closely with member countries to actively support this reform agenda."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Revenue mobilization and external financing",
      "content": "- Domestic revenue:\n  - Many countries have substantial scope to raise tax revenues.\n  - An ambitious but reasonable target for many countries is to increase their tax ratio by 5 percentage points of GDP; achieving this will require strong administrative and policy reforms, with IMF and development partner support.\n  - Boosting tax revenues by this amount may be sufficient for emerging market economies such as Indonesia, but not for most low-income developing countries including Benin.\n- External financing sources:\n  - Bilateral donors, international financial institutions, and philanthropists.\n  - Private investors can contribute, especially in infrastructure and clean energy, if business climates and reforms improve (examples include initiatives such as the Compact with Africa).\n  - International financial markets and lenders: borrowing on commercial terms is a double-edged sword if funding is not used for high-return projects.\n- Debt risk:\n  - Forty percent of low-income developing countries are now assessed by the IMF and World Bank to be at high risk of debt distress or in debt distress.\n  - Debt distress would significantly disrupt economic activity and employment growth essential for SDG progress.\n- Foreign aid:\n  - Foreign aid, preferably in the form of grants, remains crucial for poorer countries.\n  - Advanced economies can do more, including by moving towards 0.7 percent of gross national income in aid, and better target aid budgets to countries most in need.\n  - The piece notes budget constraints in advanced economies but emphasizes high economic returns on well-targeted aid in terms of poverty reduction, job creation, and improving security and stability."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Beyond spending — enabling conditions and global public goods",
      "content": "- Development and growth reinforce each other; sustaining stable growth requires broader enabling conditions.\n- Critical global public goods and foundations for development:\n  - Geo-political stability.\n  - Open trade.\n  - Climate initiatives.\n  - Good governance, which requires tackling both supply and demand elements of corruption.\n- Realizing the SDGs will require joint action by individual countries, international organizations, official donors and philanthropists, the private sector, and civil society."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Call to action",
      "content": "- Quoting Kofi Annan: “We have the means and the capacity to deal with our problems, if only we can find the political will.”\n- Final appeal: summon the political will to give all children a chance by 2030.\n\nSource: Give Today’s Children a Chance — IMF blog, Christine Lagarde and Vitor Gaspar, September 24, 2018.\n\n---\n\n Content in this bundle\n\n- Fiscal Policy and Development — Spending Needs for Achieving Selected SDGs\n  - Fiscal Policy and Development — Spending Needs for Achieving Selected SDGs (Markdown version){rel=\"alternate\" type=\"text/markdown\"}\n  - Fiscal Policy and Development — Spending Needs for Achieving Selected SDGs (PDF){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}\n\n---\n\n References\n\n- SDGs\n- https://www.imf.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/eng-september-20-sdg2-2.png\n\nSource: https://www.imf.org/en/blogs/articles/2018/09/24/blog-give-today-children-a-chance"
    }
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    "[Markdown version](/en/blogs/articles/2018/09/24/blog-give-today-children-a-chance/index.md)",
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    "Authors: Christine Lagarde, Vitor Gaspar",
    "Published: September 24, 2018",
    "Since 1990 alone, over a billion people have lifted themselves out of extreme poverty.",
    "Example contrasts:",
    "Indonesia is progressing: government plans to fund education, health, and infrastructure by increasing tax revenues.",
    "A contrasting case: Benin",
    "Low-income countries need to increase spending in education, health, water and sanitation, roads, and electricity.",
    "The IMF analyzed five critical areas: education, health, water and sanitation, roads, and electricity.",
    "Estimated additional spending needs:",
    "The US$520 billion a year estimate is stated as being in the same ballpark as other institutions’ estimates.",
    "Conclusion: Significant new spending is needed to give all children a fair chance by 2030.",
    "Primary responsibility: low-income developing countries must own the SDG agenda and prioritize reforms to support sustainable, inclusive growth.",
    "Key country-level actions:",
    "Role of the IMF: work closely with member countries to actively support this reform agenda.",
    "Domestic revenue:",
    "External financing sources:",
    "Debt risk:",
    "Foreign aid:",
    "Development and growth reinforce each other; sustaining stable growth requires broader enabling conditions.",
    "Critical global public goods and foundations for development:",
    "Realizing the SDGs will require joint action by individual countries, international organizations, official donors and philanthropists, the private sector, and civil society.",
    "Quoting Kofi Annan: “We have the means and the capacity to deal with our problems, if only we can find the political will.”",
    "Final appeal: summon the political will to give all children a chance by 2030.",
    "**Fiscal Policy and Development — Spending Needs for Achieving Selected SDGs**",
    "[SDGs](http://www.imf.org/SDG)",
    "[https://www.imf.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/eng-september-20-sdg2-2.png](https://www.imf.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/eng-september-20-sdg2-2.png)"
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      "title": "Fiscal Policy and Development — Spending Needs for Achieving Selected SDGs",
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