United Nations deputy secretary general, Amina Mohammed, has highlighted the need to reform the global financial system to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Ms Mohammed made the call on Thursday in her remarks at a forum on reform held at the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in Washington DC.

She noted that the goals were “slipping from our grasp” amid a cascading global crisis, adding that soaring energy and food costs, the climate emergency, and the COVID-19 pandemic in recent years had battered developing countries.

According to her, the situation has put vulnerable countries at greater risk of debt distress and undermined their ability to invest in recovery, let alone climate action and long-term sustainable development.

“These crises have unfolded amidst rapidly tightening global financial conditions and rising borrowing costs. “These widespread challenges are indicative of a flawed global financial architecture – one that was designed for a world that no longer exists and is too short-sighted, crisis-prone, and deeply unequal,” the deputy secretary general said. 

Ms Mohammed recalled that the UN secretary general had supported calls for reform and had even proposed a global SDG Stimulus Plan of at least $500 billion annually to scale up affordable long-term financing for countries in need. 

The UN official listed such reform acts to include mobilising official financing at scale, lowering the cost of borrowing, and providing contingency financing in times of crisis. She added that such actions could be taken immediately and without any changes to the current financial architecture.

“There is no reason not to act and yet, the international community is not finding common ground; the G20 in particular remains at an impasse. But, failing to listen to these clear cries for change would be a mistake, one that would lead to the decoupling of our global financial system and an unravelling of multilateralism at large,” she warned. 

Ms Mohammed pointed to upcoming opportunities “to build a coalition of like-minded leaders to drive an ambitious financing package for the SDGs and climate action.”

She said the opportunities included the Bridgetown Initiative, put forward by the Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley; a “Global Financing Pact” summit in June convened by French President Emmanuel Macron, and the SDG Summit and High-Level Dialogue on Financing at UN Headquarters in September. 

“Actions taken now, as proposed in the SDG Stimulus, would go a long way towards addressing the urgent challenges of the moment,” Ms Mohammed stressed. “But they need to go hand in hand with an effort to reform and address deep and longstanding flaws in the international financial architecture.”

(NAN)