{ "title": "Striking the Right Balance Between Sustainable Development and Sustainable Debt", "publication": "IMF Blog, December 19, 2019", "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/en/blogs/articles/2019/12/19/blog-striking-the-right-balance-between-sustainable-development-and-sustainable-debt", "canonical": "https://www.imf.org/en/blogs/articles/2019/12/19/blog-striking-the-right-balance-between-sustainable-development-and-sustainable-debt", "overlayPath": "/en/blogs/articles/2019/12/19/blog-striking-the-right-balance-between-sustainable-development-and-sustainable-debt/index.md", "summary": "Author: Kristalina Georgieva", "sections": [ { "heading": "Overview", "content": "- Author: Kristalina Georgieva\n- Date: December 19, 2019\n- Main message: Sub-Saharan Africa has made considerable progress but remains only half-way to meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A balanced approach is required between financing development and safeguarding debt sustainability." }, { "heading": "Context and key trends", "content": "- Progress over two decades:\n - Extreme poverty levels have declined by one third.\n - Life expectancy has increased by a fifth.\n - Real per capita income has grown by about 50 percent on average.\n- Remaining challenge: sub-Saharan Africa is still only half-way to meeting the SDGs.\n- Public debt and financing mix:\n - Public debt levels increased rapidly between 2011 and 2016; they have since stabilized at around 55 percent of GDP on average.\n - Commercial borrowing on domestic and international financial markets accounted for more than 70 percent of the increase in debt stock this decade.\n - Shift to non-concessional financing implies more spending on debt service and less on social and infrastructure investment.\n- Efficiency and capacity gaps:\n - Revenue collection estimated to be 3–5 percentage points of GDP below revenue potential.\n - Only about 60 percent of the region’s infrastructure spending translates into public capital stock (i.e., for every dollar spent, about 60 cents of assets are obtained).\n - Even strong domestic efforts are likely to cover just a quarter of the estimated SDG needs." }, { "heading": "Five tactics to balance development and debt", "content": "- Tactics directed at sub-Saharan policymakers:\n 1. Generate higher public revenue\n - Close the revenue gap of 3–5 percentage points of GDP.\n - Example: Uganda, with IMF technical support, raised the revenue-to-GDP ratio from 11 percent in 2012 to almost 15 percent last year.\n 2. Make investment spending more efficient\n - Improve the conversion rate of infrastructure spending into public capital stock (current estimate: about 60 percent).\n 3. Strengthen public debt management\n - Boost debt transparency by providing accurate, comprehensive, and timely data to build investor trust, support domestic capital markets, and reduce debt service costs.\n- Tactics directed at the international community and private sector:\n 4. Advanced economies to increase official development assistance\n - Goal: raise official development assistance to 0.7 percent of donors’ national income.\n - Donors could focus more on infrastructure by providing grants and concessional financing for projects with credibly high rates of return.\n 5. Mobilize more private-sector participation\n - Bring in more private-sector players, including foreign direct investment.\n - Use blended finance that combines grants, concessional financing, and commercial funding to share risk and scale up development finance." }, { "heading": "Implementation notes and illustrative examples", "content": "- Conference convening: IMF together with the Government of Senegal on December 2, in partnership with the United Nations and the Cercle des économistes; held in Dakar.\n- Analogy: The balanced play of Senegal’s national soccer team, the Lions of Teranga, illustrates the need for balance between competing priorities (attack vs. defense; individual vs. team).\n- Emphasis on joint action: Public sector responsibility must be matched by international donors and private capital to ensure broadly shared benefits." }, { "heading": "Key statistics and figures (verbatim)", "content": "- \"one third\" — decline in extreme poverty levels.\n- \"a fifth\" — increase in life expectancy.\n- \"about 50 percent\" — growth in real per capita income on average.\n- \"half-way\" — progress toward the SDGs.\n- \"between 2011 and 2016\" — period of rapid public debt increases.\n- \"around 55 percent of GDP on average\" — stabilized public debt level.\n- \"more than 70 percent\" — share of the increase in debt stock accounted for by commercial borrowing this decade.\n- \"3–5 percentage points of GDP below revenue potential\" — estimated revenue shortfall.\n- \"11 percent in 2012 to almost 15 percent last year\" — Uganda revenue-to-GDP ratio improvement.\n- \"only about 60 percent\" — share of infrastructure spending that translates into public capital stock.\n- \"about 60 cents\" — asset value per dollar spent on infrastructure.\n- \"just a quarter\" — share of estimated SDG needs that strong domestic efforts are likely to cover.\n- \"0.7 percent of donors’ national income\" — target for official development assistance.\n\nSource: Striking the Right Balance Between Sustainable Development and Sustainable Debt — Kristalina Georgieva, December 19, 2019.\n\n---\n\n\n References\n\n- عربي\n- 日本語\n- Português\n- conference\n\nSource: https://www.imf.org/en/blogs/articles/2019/12/19/blog-striking-the-right-balance-between-sustainable-development-and-sustainable-debt" } ], "bullets": [ "[Markdown version](/en/blogs/articles/2019/12/19/blog-striking-the-right-balance-between-sustainable-development-and-sustainable-debt/index.md)", "[Structured JSON version](/en/blogs/articles/2019/12/19/blog-striking-the-right-balance-between-sustainable-development-and-sustainable-debt/index.json)", "[Bundle manifest](/en/blogs/articles/2019/12/19/blog-striking-the-right-balance-between-sustainable-development-and-sustainable-debt/bundle-manifest.json)", "Authors: Kristalina Georgieva", "Published: December 19, 2019", "Author: Kristalina Georgieva", "Date: December 19, 2019", "Main message: Sub-Saharan Africa has made considerable progress but remains only half-way to meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A balanced approach is required between financing development and safeguarding debt sustainability.", "Progress over two decades:", "Remaining challenge: sub-Saharan Africa is still only half-way to meeting the SDGs.", "Public debt and financing mix:", "Efficiency and capacity gaps:", "Tactics directed at sub-Saharan policymakers:", "Tactics directed at the international community and private sector:", "Conference convening: IMF together with the Government of Senegal on December 2, in partnership with the United Nations and the Cercle des économistes; held in Dakar.", "Analogy: The balanced play of Senegal’s national soccer team, the Lions of Teranga, illustrates the need for balance between competing priorities (attack vs. defense; individual vs. team).", "Emphasis on joint action: Public sector responsibility must be matched by international donors and private capital to ensure broadly shared benefits.", "\"one third\" — decline in extreme poverty levels.", "\"a fifth\" — increase in life expectancy.", "\"about 50 percent\" — growth in real per capita income on average.", "\"half-way\" — progress toward the SDGs.", "\"between 2011 and 2016\" — period of rapid public debt increases.", "\"around 55 percent of GDP on average\" — stabilized public debt level.", "\"more than 70 percent\" — share of the increase in debt stock accounted for by commercial borrowing this decade.", "\"3–5 percentage points of GDP below revenue potential\" — estimated revenue shortfall.", "\"11 percent in 2012 to almost 15 percent last year\" — Uganda revenue-to-GDP ratio improvement.", "\"only about 60 percent\" — share of infrastructure spending that translates into public capital stock.", "\"about 60 cents\" — asset value per dollar spent on infrastructure.", "\"just a quarter\" — share of estimated SDG needs that strong domestic efforts are likely to cover.", "\"0.7 percent of donors’ national income\" — target for official development assistance.", "[عربي](https://www.imf.org/ar/News/Articles/2019/12/19/blog-striking-the-right-balance-between-sustainable-development-and-sustainable-debt)", "[日本語](http://www.imf.org/ja/News/Articles/2019/12/19/blog-striking-the-right-balance-between-sustainable-development-and-sustainable-debt)", "[Português](https://www.imf.org/pt/News/Articles/2019/12/19/blog-striking-the-right-balance-between-sustainable-development-and-sustainable-debt?sc_mode=1)", "[conference](https://www.imf.org/en/News/Seminars/Conferences/2019/12/02/sustainable-development-and-debt)" ], "alternates": { "markdown": "/en/blogs/articles/2019/12/19/blog-striking-the-right-balance-between-sustainable-development-and-sustainable-debt/index.md", "json": "/en/blogs/articles/2019/12/19/blog-striking-the-right-balance-between-sustainable-development-and-sustainable-debt/index.json", "bundleManifest": "/en/blogs/articles/2019/12/19/blog-striking-the-right-balance-between-sustainable-development-and-sustainable-debt/bundle-manifest.json" }, "generatedAtUtc": "2026-08-27T16:44:28.053Z" }