Addressing public debt challenges to effectively pursue the SDGs: regional perspectives

Jointly prepared by the five Regional Commissions of the United Nations, this policy brief outlines public debt trends across the globe, discusses policy options to address rising public indebtedness while keeping in view the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and highlights policy experiences that governments across regions can learn from each other. To manage fiscal and debt risks, governments need to deploy resources raised from increasing public debt as investments in people and the planet, which can offer sizeable medium-and long-term economic, social and environmental returns. Increasing fiscal revenues and improving public spending effectiveness and efficiency are key to expand the fiscal space. Better management of public debt can also go a long way in reducing fiscal risks and government borrowing costs. For countries already facing elevated debt distress risk, timely sovereign debt restructuring can help mitigate the adverse socioeconomic consequences of continued debt distress. In support of such restructuring, the international development community should step up its efforts to accelerate progress towards common international debt resolution mechanisms and restructuring frameworks.