https://www.un.org/development/desa/financing/post-news/financing-sustainable-development-report-2022 Guterres As we release this report on financing for sustainable development, the world is under enormous and
growing stress. And we, the international community, are failing to respond adequately. The COVID-19
pandemic is still raging, now in its third year. The climate crisis continues unabated and largely
unaddressed, pollution and biodiversity loss continue to threaten the health of the planet, and multiple
geopolitical conflicts are devastating untold lives.
The war in Ukraine is the latest in a cascade of crises for developing countries that continue to struggle to make
development progress, achieve vaccine equity and achieve a just and safe recovery. The cost of energy, food and
other commodities is rising, further intensifying volatility in global financial markets. There is a great danger that,
as our collective attention shifts to the conflict, we neglect other crises that will not go away.
It would be a tragedy if donors increased their military expenditure at the expense of Official Development Assistance and climate
action. It would also be self-defeating. Without more international support and a strengthened multilateralism, the world will diverge
further, inequality will soar, and prospects for an inclusive and prosperous future will be further undermined.
We must not lose sight of the commitment of the 2030 Agenda to leave no one behind, especially at this perilous moment. Developed
countries have been able to finance a rapid economic recovery from the pandemic, through massive fiscal support and aggressive
monetary policy responses. But most developing countries can afford neither, despite international support. Instead, they continue to
face increasingly high costs of lending and have had to cut their education and health budgets and other SDG investments, undermining
not only their recovery, but also their medium and long-term development prospects.
Finance is both a contributor to the divergence we are seeing between developed and developing countries and a key to overcoming
it. In my report, Our Common Agenda, I have identified key deficiencies in our global financial system that exacerbate inequalities and
drive risk. This year’s report on financing for sustainable development spells out actions designed to overcome the current paralysis of
international policy-making and build a better multilateralism that can address the multiple crises we face.
We must close the financing gaps that prevent so many countries from investing in recovery, climate action and the SDGs. Developed
countries must meet their ODA commitments, particularly to Least Developed Countries. We must take full advantage of our public
development banks to scale up long-term financing. And we must immediately and fully finance the Access to COVID-19 Tools
Accelerator so that vaccines can reach 70 per cent of the world’s population during the first half of 2022.
To build a more sustainable, inclusive and resilient global economy that works for all, we must also reform the international financial
architecture with rules that are inclusive, effective and fair. Our inability to address debt challenges in many countries speaks to the
glaring inequities that continue to characterize our global economic order.
As well as addressing the weaknesses of the Common Framework for Debt Treatment, we must urgently work toward a more
comprehensive solution to sovereign debt challenges. The United Nations can provide a neutral and inclusive venue to bring together
all countries, major creditors, debtors and other relevant stakeholders to discuss how to reform the international debt architecture. This
report provides the basis for such discussions.
It is time to abandon short-term profit maximization for the few and move towards a long-term outlook that integrates economic, social
and environmental justice and opportunity for all. To that end, we must align all financing policies with SDG and climate priorities—
government budgets, tax systems, investments, regulatory frameworks and corporate reporting requirements. And we must change
how we measure, and ultimately think of progress. In a world of interlinked and systemic risk, GDP is no longer an appropriate metric
of how we measure wealth and shared prosperity. We must find ways to take vulnerabilities into account more systematically in the
allocation of concessional financing and actions on debt.
I commend this report’s recommendations on how to close financing gaps and create a better international financing architecture. It is
time to change course.
previously 2018 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmE226XidUg
No comments:
Post a Comment