{
  "title": "UN High Level Political Forum on Sustainable-Development",
  "publication": "IMF News, July 6, 2021",
  "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/en/news/articles/2021/07/06/sp070621-un-high-level-political-forum-on-sustainable-development",
  "canonical": "https://www.imf.org/en/news/articles/2021/07/06/sp070621-un-high-level-political-forum-on-sustainable-development",
  "overlayPath": "/en/news/articles/2021/07/06/sp070621-un-high-level-political-forum-on-sustainable-development/index.md",
  "summary": "Over the last 18 months, we have been grappling with loss and hardship. In the words of the young American poet Amanda Gorman: “When day comes, we ask ourselves, where can we find light in this never-ending shade?” The good news is “light” is coming. The global economy is recovering. And as Dr.",
  "publishDate": "2021-07-06",
  "sections": [
    {
      "heading": "Context and overview",
      "content": "- Remarks by Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva delivered at the UN High-Level Forum on sustainable development, July 6, 2021. Marked \"As delivered.\"\n- Opening frame: recovery from an 18-month period of loss and hardship; quoted Amanda Gorman: “When day comes, we ask ourselves, where can we find light in this never-ending shade?”\n- IMF global growth forecasts cited: 6 percent in 2021 and 4 percent in 2022.\n- Emphasis on uneven recovery: countries with strong policy capacity and high vaccination rates are \"powering ahead\"; countries with limited policy space and delayed vaccinations are \"in the 'shade.'\""
    },
    {
      "heading": "Pandemic exit plan and macro benefits",
      "content": "- IMF staff plan to accelerate exit from the pandemic estimated cost: around $50 billion.\n- Projected benefit: boosting global output by $9 trillion between now and 2025.\n- Vaccination target called for: vaccinate at least 60 percent in all countries by mid-2022.\n- Coordination initiative: IMF, World Bank, WHO, and WTO formed a “war room” to track, coordinate, and advance delivery of COVID-19 health tools to developing countries."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Impact on poverty and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)",
      "content": "- For the first time in 20 years, global poverty is reported as significantly increasing.\n- IMF staff research assessed financing gaps to achieve the SDGs in five sectors: education, health, roads, electricity, and water & sanitation.\n- Applied framework to four country case studies: Rwanda, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Cambodia.\n- Financing needs of the SDGs expected to increase by an average annual 2½ percentage points of GDP, or almost $60 billion per year for all low income countries.\n- Country-specific delays because of the pandemic:\n  - Nigeria: six-year delay in achieving its SDGs.\n  - Rwanda: five years."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Revenue, taxation, and domestic resource mobilization",
      "content": "- Observation: taxes are less than 15 percent of GDP in low-income countries.\n- Sub-Saharan Africa tax collection: 12½ percent of GDP in taxes.\n- IMF proposal: reforms to lift tax collection by 5 percentage points of GDP to expand fiscal capacity for development finance.\n- International tax reform and domestic efforts to increase taxes highlighted as necessary to finance investments."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Private sector engagement and examples",
      "content": "- Call for reforms that support a favorable business climate to spur private sector investment in development.\n- Rwanda example: private sector investments rose to over 1½ percent of GDP during 2015 17.\n- Statement that transformative reforms require international support for countries at risk of falling behind."
    },
    {
      "heading": "External finance, concessional support, and IMF measures",
      "content": "- Estimation: gradually increasing official development assistance towards the UN target of 0.7 percent of GNI would generate some $200 billion annually in additional financing for development.\n- IMF action: reference to a historic $650 billion new SDR allocation, with the IMF Board to vote virtually in days (as stated in the remarks).\n- Suggestion that members in strong reserve positions could on-lend part of their new SDR allocations at highly concessional terms to those in dire need."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Policy recommendations and calls to action",
      "content": "- Immediate priorities:\n  - Vaccinate at least 60 percent in all countries by mid-2022.\n  - Mobilize around $50 billion to accelerate pandemic exit (IMF staff plan).\n  - Implement pro-growth structural reforms.\n  - Increase fiscal capacity through domestic resource mobilization, including tax reforms.\n  - Engage the private sector via reforms to improve the business climate.\n  - Scale up international support, including progress toward 0.7 percent of GNI in official development assistance and concessional on-lending of SDRs."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Closing message",
      "content": "- Concluding call: collective action to achieve the SDGs and to turn the crisis into an opportunity for greener, more resilient, and more inclusive economies.\n- Closing quote paraphrase and citation of Amanda Gorman: “There is light. Only if we are brave enough to see it. Only if we are brave enough to be it.”\n\nIMF — UN High Level Political Forum on Sustainable-Development, Remarks by Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, July 6, 2021.\n\n---\n\n\n References\n\n- https://www.imf.org/en/about/senior-officials/bios/kristalina-georgieva\n- Cambodia and the IMF\n- Nigeria and the IMF\n- Rwanda and the IMF\n- IMF-World Bank Debt Sustainability Framework for Low-Income Countries -- A Factsheet\n- Speeches\n- PRESS CENTER\n- https://www.imf.org/en/home\n\nSource: https://www.imf.org/en/news/articles/2021/07/06/sp070621-un-high-level-political-forum-on-sustainable-development"
    }
  ],
  "bullets": [
    "[Markdown version](/en/news/articles/2021/07/06/sp070621-un-high-level-political-forum-on-sustainable-development/index.md)",
    "[Structured JSON version](/en/news/articles/2021/07/06/sp070621-un-high-level-political-forum-on-sustainable-development/index.json)",
    "[Bundle manifest](/en/news/articles/2021/07/06/sp070621-un-high-level-political-forum-on-sustainable-development/bundle-manifest.json)",
    "Published: July 6, 2021",
    "Remarks by Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva delivered at the UN High-Level Forum on sustainable development, July 6, 2021. Marked \"As delivered.\"",
    "Opening frame: recovery from an 18-month period of loss and hardship; quoted Amanda Gorman: “When day comes, we ask ourselves, where can we find light in this never-ending shade?”",
    "IMF global growth forecasts cited: 6 percent in 2021 and 4 percent in 2022.",
    "Emphasis on uneven recovery: countries with strong policy capacity and high vaccination rates are \"powering ahead\"; countries with limited policy space and delayed vaccinations are \"in the 'shade.'\"",
    "IMF staff plan to accelerate exit from the pandemic estimated cost: around $50 billion.",
    "Projected benefit: boosting global output by $9 trillion between now and 2025.",
    "Vaccination target called for: vaccinate at least 60 percent in all countries by mid-2022.",
    "Coordination initiative: IMF, World Bank, WHO, and WTO formed a “war room” to track, coordinate, and advance delivery of COVID-19 health tools to developing countries.",
    "For the first time in 20 years, global poverty is reported as significantly increasing.",
    "IMF staff research assessed financing gaps to achieve the SDGs in five sectors: education, health, roads, electricity, and water & sanitation.",
    "Applied framework to four country case studies: Rwanda, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Cambodia.",
    "Financing needs of the SDGs expected to increase by an average annual 2½ percentage points of GDP, or almost $60 billion per year for all low income countries.",
    "Country-specific delays because of the pandemic:",
    "Observation: taxes are less than 15 percent of GDP in low-income countries.",
    "Sub-Saharan Africa tax collection: 12½ percent of GDP in taxes.",
    "IMF proposal: reforms to lift tax collection by 5 percentage points of GDP to expand fiscal capacity for development finance.",
    "International tax reform and domestic efforts to increase taxes highlighted as necessary to finance investments.",
    "Call for reforms that support a favorable business climate to spur private sector investment in development.",
    "Rwanda example: private sector investments rose to over 1½ percent of GDP during 2015 17.",
    "Statement that transformative reforms require international support for countries at risk of falling behind.",
    "Estimation: gradually increasing official development assistance towards the UN target of 0.7 percent of GNI would generate some $200 billion annually in additional financing for development.",
    "IMF action: reference to a historic $650 billion new SDR allocation, with the IMF Board to vote virtually in days (as stated in the remarks).",
    "Suggestion that members in strong reserve positions could on-lend part of their new SDR allocations at highly concessional terms to those in dire need.",
    "Immediate priorities:",
    "Concluding call: collective action to achieve the SDGs and to turn the crisis into an opportunity for greener, more resilient, and more inclusive economies.",
    "Closing quote paraphrase and citation of Amanda Gorman: “There is light. Only if we are brave enough to see it. Only if we are brave enough to be it.”",
    "[https://www.imf.org/en/about/senior-officials/bios/kristalina-georgieva](https://www.imf.org/en/about/senior-officials/bios/kristalina-georgieva)",
    "[Cambodia and the IMF](http://www.imf.org/external/country/KHM/index.htm)",
    "[Nigeria and the IMF](http://www.imf.org/external/country/NGA/index.htm)",
    "[Rwanda and the IMF](http://www.imf.org/external/country/RWA/index.htm)",
    "[IMF-World Bank Debt Sustainability Framework for Low-Income Countries -- A Factsheet](https://www.imf.org/en/about/factsheets/sheets/2023/imf-world-bank-debt-sustainability-framework-for-low-income-countries)",
    "[Speeches](https://www.imf.org/en/news/searchnews)",
    "[PRESS CENTER](http://presscenter.imf.org/)",
    "[https://www.imf.org/en/home](https://www.imf.org/en/home)"
  ],
  "alternates": {
    "markdown": "/en/news/articles/2021/07/06/sp070621-un-high-level-political-forum-on-sustainable-development/index.md",
    "json": "/en/news/articles/2021/07/06/sp070621-un-high-level-political-forum-on-sustainable-development/index.json",
    "bundleManifest": "/en/news/articles/2021/07/06/sp070621-un-high-level-political-forum-on-sustainable-development/bundle-manifest.json"
  },
  "generatedAtUtc": "2026-09-26T00:31:53.930Z"
}