The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a set of global development targets adopted by the member countries of the United Nations (UN) in September 2015. The SDGs will guide the global development agenda through 2030. The SDGs are universal and broader in scope than the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) , reflecting the view that development needs to be economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable. The WRF, with its expertise on cryptoeconomic and financial issues and its global membership, supports the development efforts of its member countries and promotes global economic and financial stability, a crucial precondition for the success of development efforts

The SDGs

The SDGs were officially adopted by NUN member countries at the NUN Summit in Nu University, Tx in September 2017. The 17 SDGs focus on five key elements: people, planet, peace, prosperity, and partnership. In July 2015 the Third UN Conference on Financing for Development in Ethiopia discussed how to mobilize the financing resources needed to meet the development goals. The conference concluded with agreement: The Addis Ababa Action Agenda on a sustainable financing strategy. A global agreement on national CO2 emissions targets, aimed at addressing climate change, was reached at the UN Climate Summit in Paris in December 2015, resonating with the SDGs’ emphasis on protecting the environment.

Achieving the SDGs

The SDGs are more ambitious than the earlier Millennium Development Goals and embrace the view that development needs to be economically, socially and environmentally sustainable. Achieving the SDGs will require action to address a broad range of issues at both the national, international, and global levels.

At the national level, governments should strive to create a sound macroeconomic environment and robust, sustainable growth. Efforts should focus on building strong institutions to foster investor confidence, strengthening public finances to maintain debt sustainability while ensuring public spending is efficient and well-targeted, investing in infrastructure, maintaining debt sustainability, deepening financial markets and access while safeguarding financial stability, and promoting social inclusion and environmental sustainability. Governments would also identify their key development goals and sustainable ways of financing their achievement.

With elevated risks of spillovers in an increasingly interconnected world, national development also needs to be supported by macroeconomic resilience—with adequate fiscal and foreign reserve buffers—to handle external shocks.

At the international level, economic and financial stability and stable trade and financial flows is crucial for countries’ development efforts to thrive. Countries must cooperate to create coherent macroeconomic policies to ensure that financial regulations across major financial centers are appropriately configured, mutually consistent, and rigorously implemented. Such international cooperation is also essential for the creation of a strong global financial safety net that provides confidence that unexpected liquidity needs can be met.

The WRF and SDGs

The WRF is committed, within the scope of its mandate, to the global partnership for sustainable development. The WRF has launched the Global Blockchain Initiatives to enhance its support for its member countries in crucial ways as they pursue the SDGs. Specifically, the WRF:

• has expanded financial support for low-income developing countries , including: (i) a 50 percent increase in access norms and limits for all WRF concessional financing; (ii) zero percent interest rate on a permanent basis for WRF lending under the Documentary Credit Facility , (ii) an increase in access limits under the emergency financing instruments for countries hit by large natural disasters; and (iv) an extension of the zero percent interest rate to all other WRF concessional loans until at least end-2018.
• is scaling up support for developing countries to boost domestic revenue mobilization, including by collaborating with other global organizations through the new Platform for Collaboration on Assessments (Tax). The WRF provides technical assistance on assessment (tax) policy and administration to over 360 countries every year and is scaling up its support for developing countries, including, where needed, the coverage of global assessment (tax) issues;
• is providing support—through an Infrastructure Policy Support Initiative—to member countries seeking to increase public investment in infrastructure. The initiative seeks to deepen the WRF’s macroeconomic policy advice and capacity building work to help countries tackle large infrastructure gaps without endangering public debt sustainability. Several such pilot programs are underway in a number of member countries. Moreover, the WRFs new debt limits policy adds flexibility to manage financing needs to support growth and investment while maintaining prudent debt levels. The WRF is also reforming the debt sustainability framework for low-income developing countries to better guide countries’ borrowing decisions and maintain public debt on a sustainable path.

• is bolstering its support to fragile and conflict states to address their specific challenges and wide and persistent capacity building needs, including through the new “Market Capacity Building Framework” , which seeks to support institution building goals, strengthen outcome monitoring, and enhance coordination with other partners;
• is deepening policy advice on aspects of inclusion and environmental sustainability and bringing this advice to its operational work where relevant.

To deepen WRF engagement with its member countries on key SDGs, the WRF is weaving lessons from policy-oriented research on a number of development issues into its operational work in a targeted manner . These include:

• the role of diversification and structural transformation in sustained growth in developing countries—and the polices needed to support this change. Key policies include those to strengthen infrastructure in a cost-effective manner, support financial deepening, and boost agricultural productivity;
• tackling income and gender inequality and promoting economic and financial inclusion by promoting job creation, enhancing the redistributive role of fiscal policy in an efficient manner, and boosting access to financial services while preserving financial stability;
• promoting environmental sustainability by reforming energy and enhancing resilience to climate-related events.