As the world risks failing to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Summit of the Future produced the Pact for the Future – a set of commitments made by world leaders to rescue the SDGs. While some experts welcomed the pact as “a crucial step towards unlocking economic opportunities for developing nations”, others cast doubt on its ability to produce any change.
What’s in the pact?
Only 17% of the 169 SDG targets are on track to be met by 2030. The lingering effects of the coronavirus pandemic and ongoing climate change, armed conflicts, drought and hunger crises in countries such as Sudan, Somalia, Nigeria, Sudan, Yemen, Ukraine and Gaza are increasing the danger of failing to attain these global goals.
In light of some of these crises, the latest Global Hunger Index states that the goal to end hunger over the next six years now appears to be unreachable. However, the Summit of the Future, held in New York in September, approved the Pact for the Future in an attempt to rescue the SDGs.
See also: Pact for the Future: redefining global governance amidst crisis and opportunity | Experts’ Opinions
Perhaps one of the most significant pledges for developing countries is the reformation of global governance and financial systems to represent and better meet the needs of these nations. If implemented, these reforms would increase the participation of developing countries in decision-making within global governance bodies such as the World Trade Organization and financial institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
The reforms would also see the terms of existing loans revised and long-term low-interest loans mobilized for debt-stressed developing countries. These nations are now spending more on loan repayments than on critical sectors such as health and education. Moreover, some are spending more money on loan repayments than they are receiving in new loans. Consequently, the SDG funding gap in developing countries now stands at US$4 trillion per year.
Impact of the pact doubted
Can the Pact for the Future liberate the SDGs in these countries? Dr Fred Muhumuza, a Ugandan development economist, does not believe the pact offers developing countries anything new.
“These are the same things they have been saying for years,” Muhumuza commented. “Some SDGs might be realized, but others will limp on. The pledges will have nothing to do with that because those promises cannot be implemented. The discussion on reforming the international financial system has been going on for years and it has failed.”
He explained that developing countries have obtained loans from various lenders and that revising the repayment terms for money borrowed from multiple sources is hard.
“The multilateral lenders cannot agree to charge a uniform interest rate or forgive debts because they mobilize money differently. Why should they lower interest rates in markets where domestic lenders are charging higher interest rates?” he continued.
More trade, less aid
While the pledge to reform the global trading system to increase exports from developing countries to developed nations is music to the ears of many low-income nations, Muhumuza states that trade between countries will continue to be guided by national interests.
“National politics override global politics, and that is why various US administrations have imposed trade restrictions on China, and trade will continue to be governed by country-level agreements or regional blocs rather than global agreements,” he explained.
Professor Augustus Nuwagaba, who researches economic transformation in Africa, agrees with Muhumuza.
“The world leaders know the rules that govern the international trading system,” he said. “The rules determine where goods come from and in what quantities.”
He added that developing countries can only realize their development goals by skilling their populations and building better transport systems and electricity generation capacity to attract more foreign direct investments.
“That is how these economies will develop and achieve the SDGs,” he stated.
However, other economists and development researchers believe that the reforms agreed on within the pact represent a crucial step towards unlocking economic opportunities for developing nations.
“These are not new pledges, but there is a commitment to give developing countries a greater voice on the global scene than before, and the importance of having your issues heard and prioritized at that level cannot be overemphasized,” Dr Enock Twinoburyo, an economic advisor at the think tank SDG Centre for Africa, explained.
Pamela Mbabazi, a Professor of Development Studies, believes that the pact presents significant opportunities for countries to align their respective national development priorities with international commitments to accelerate the implementation of the SDGs.
“This is what Uganda is doing with our national development plan 4,” commented Mbabazi, who is the chairperson of Uganda’s planning agency.
As 83% of the targets are off track and with just six years until the expiry of the SDG timetable, Muhumuza states that world leaders need to consider embarking on the process of developing the post-2030 development agenda now.
“The 2030 agenda followed the Millennium Development Goals because many MDG targets were not met,” he added. “It is clear most of the SDG targets will not be met. Countries are involved in armed conflicts, and others are fighting hunger and droughts. They are diverting resources away from development priorities to these problems. We will probably need SDGs phase two.”
