Scarce funding the key hurdle to sustainable development

Rome.- The lack of funding is the main challenge to enact the sustainable development agenda agreed at the UN for 2030, a Dominican Republic representative affirmed Mon. in Rome.

Dominican deputy Economy minister Yván Rodríguez, assured in a meeting at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) that “the world is destined to an agenda that demands financial resources,” despite its scarcity in regions such as Latin America.

Globally the UN estimates that a US$116.0 billion investment will be needed eradicate hunger and end extreme poverty, two of the Sustainable Development Goals set in 2015.

Rodriguez regrets the high tax evasion and low taxation of companies in Latin America, two obstacles to raising funds for development, and asked the private sector to “fulfill their tax obligations.”

According to Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) estimates tax evasion in 2015 topped US$340.0 billion, or 6.7% of the regional GDP.

Moreover, the region maintains low taxation levels, with an average tax on GDP of 22.8% in 2015 (in the Dominican Republic it was 14.5%), well below the 34.3% of GDP observed in the countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Rodriguez thanked the help by the UN for having contributed his country’s development in recent decades. “Without their accompaniment, we would not be where we are,” said the official, citing a program of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to diversify agriculture.

The UN’s latest data point out that the prevalence of hunger fell from 24.4% of the Dominican population in the 2004-2006 period to 10.4% between 2015 and 2017.