Developed countries received most from crisis funds, poorest got the least: UN chief

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres suggested Group of 20 (G20) countries create a stimulus for UN-mandated sustainable development goals (SDG) to give a boost to the poorest nations’ progress. He made the statement during the 2023 Economic and Social Council Forum on financing for development follow-up in New York, the United States on April 17, 2023.

The UN chief also pointed out the glaring inequalities of help extended to countries. Last year, the International Monetary Fund allocated $650 billion in Special Drawing Rights — the main global mechanism to boost liquidity during crises.

Based on current quotas, developed countries received 26 times more funds than least developed countries and 13 times more than all the countries of Africa combined, he said. Something is fundamentally wrong with the rules and governance system that produced this outcome, he added.

Guterres also called for a new economic system that is coherent and coordinated and reflects today’s global economic reality. The system should support stable economic conditions and help countries to invest in the SDGs, he said.

He also called for the forum to pave the way for the decisions to be taken at the SDG Summit in September and the Summit of the Future next year.

The president of the 77th session of the UN General Assembly, Csaba Kőrösi, also spoke at the event.

From the COVID-19 pandemic to environmental degradation, deep-seated economic inequality and other major challenges, recent years have stretched weak socio-economic structures to their limits and the crisis is heavily impacting developing countries, Kőrösi said.

“The 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals are turning into a mirage of what might have been as communities and governments struggle to meet immediate needs,” the UN chief said, adding the SDG stimulus can make an immediate difference to developing countries and the trajectory of the 2030 Agenda.

The UN chief referred to the 2023 Financing for Sustainable Development Report, which revealed a yawning financial divide between the rich and the poor. The stimulus will help scale up affordable long-term financing for all countries in need by at least $500 billion a year, he said in a press statement. 

A recent report on inequality found that, since the pandemic, the richest 1 per cent of people worldwide have captured nearly twice as much new wealth as the rest of the world combined, Guterres said.

The stimulus will boost liquidity for investments in the transformations needed to achieve the SDGs and tackle the high cost of debt and rising risks of debt distress, the UN chief added. He also called for expanding contingency financing.