17. Partnership for the goals | 2030 Agenda in Latin America and the Caribbean

Hands putting together two pieces of puzzle

Goal 17: Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development

Description

Goal 17 is about revitalizing the global partnership for sustainable development. The 2030 Agenda is universal and calls for action by all countries – developed and developing – to ensure no one is left behind. It requires partnerships between governments, the private sector, and civil society.
The Sustainable Development Goals can only be realized with a strong commitment to global partnership and cooperation to ensure no one is left behind in our journey to development.
However, not all countries are setting off from the same start line, and low and middle income countries are facing a tidal wave of debt which they are treading water.
Developing countries are grappling with an unprecedented rise in external debt levels following the COVID-19 pandemic, compounded by challenges such as record inflation, escalating interest rates, competing priorities and constrained fiscal capacity, underscoring the urgent need for debt relief and financial assistance.

Targets and Indicators

Agencies, Funds and Programmes

Regional indicators

SDG

INDICATOR 17.1.1 Total government revenue (budgetary central government) as a proportion of GDP (%) GR_G14_GDP

(Number of countries in each range,
16 counties) 2017

Source

Source: ECLAC on the basis of UN Global SDG Database.
SDG

INDICATOR 17.4.1: Debt service as a proportion of exports of goods and services (%) DT_TDS_DECT

(Percentage)
2000, 2018

Source

Source: ECLAC on the basis of UN Global SDG Database.

Regional overview

- Accelerating implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Latin America and the Caribbean requires the mobilization of domestic and external resources to finance sustainable and inclusive environmental, social and economic development.
  Domestic resource mobilization remains a key challenge for the region, as tax revenue has stagnated. The tax gap between the countries of the region and those of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has remained relatively constant, after having narrowed considerably in the period 1990–2008. Tax systems continue to be characterized by their regressive structure based mainly on the collection of taxes on goods and services.
  Following a significant increase starting in 2014, the level of public debt in Latin America and the Caribbean has stabilized. However, tight monetary and financial conditions have increased the burden of interest payments, which in turn limits countries’ capacity to finance priority expenditure.
  Investment rates in Latin America and the Caribbean are lower than those of other emerging economies and investment growth has also been weak, especially since the 1990s.
  Environmentally sound technologies perform well compared to alternatives. The costs of many of these technologies has fallen, thus facilitating their expansion and allowing the countries of the region to access more affordable technologies to replace polluting technologies more quickly.
  In the past 20 years, significant advances have been made in the region’s national development plans, which in several cases have been aligned with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its SDGs.
  The region’s stagnating exports reflect the major challenge of diversifying its goods and services exports while making them more knowledge-intensive. This challenge is even more complex in a climate where geopolitical tensions and growing protectionism call into question the model of globalization that has prevailed in recent decades.
  Latin America and the Caribbean continues to strengthen statistical processes and operations to provide timely, reliable and quality data. Many countries were forced to postpone their censuses owing to health and logistical constraints resulting from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic or to adapt their methodologies, which led to census innovations such as the use of digital technologies and the integration of administrative records. With regard to the registration of births and deaths in the region, despite significant progress, much remains to be done and major differences exist between countries in terms of the completeness of records and quality of data.
Strengthen the means of implementation and reinvigorate the global partnership for sustainable development in Latin America and the Caribbean
The analysis of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) presented here is the outcome of the discussions held within the framework of the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and Caribbean on Sustainable Development, convened under the auspices of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

Key facts on the region

- In 2022, tax revenue in the countries of the region averaged 21.5% of gross domestic product (GDP), very similar to the 21.3% recorded in 2015.
  In 2023, tax evasion led to losses of US$ 433 billion, equivalent to 6.7% of GDP, hence the urgent need to curb tax evasion.
  Tax expenditure represents foregone tax revenue averaging 3.7% of Latin America’s GDP.
  To date (2025), only US$ 6.5 billion of special drawing rights have been recirculated (US$ 3.4 billion through the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust and US$ 3.1 billion through the Resilience and Sustainability Trust).
  At the subregional level, in 2020, the Central American Bank for Economic Integration expanded its authorized capital from US$ 5 billion to US$ 7 billion.
  In December 2021, the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean approved its largest ever capital increase (US$ 7 billion in paid-up capital).
  In March 2024, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) increased the capital of IDB Invest by US$ 3.5 billion.
  In 2024, general government gross public debt is estimated to have averaged 69.4% of GDP, representing a slight decrease from the 2020 level, but remaining above the 2015 average of 56.6% of GDP.
  In 2023, interest payments in Latin America and the Caribbean were equivalent to 70% of public spending on education, 86% of expenditure on health and 57% of spending on social protection.
  Latin America and the Caribbean’s share of global goods exports has remained between 5.4% and 5.9%, while in global services exports, its share fell from 3.7% in 2015 to 3.2% in 2023.
  The share of imports of environmentally sound technologies in the region is around 9% of the total and has increased to double the share of exports.
  Close to US$ 65 million was invested in strengthening statistical capacity in developing countries in 2023, up from US$ 32 million in 2015 but down from US$ 94 million in 2012.
  In 2023, 21 countries in the region had national legislation on statistics that aligned with the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics, 25 countries had a national statistical plan under implementation and 19 had funding sources for its implementation.
  According to available data, in 2023, 25 of the 33 countries in the region had conducted at least one population and housing census in the previous 10 years.
  In 2020, 74.5% of countries in the region had at least 90% of births registered and 82.3% had at least 75% of deaths registered. • In 2024, 22 countries had formal geospatial data infrastructure.

Good practices in the region

- During the twenty-eighth session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, held from 30 November to 13 December 2023, developed countries approved the launch of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage to which they have pledged US$ 655 million.
  The countries of the region participated in the Summit of the Future, which was held in September 2024, within the framework of the United Nations. The event resulted in the intergovernmentally negotiated and action-oriented Pact for the Future, which emphasizes the need to reform the international financial architecture and ensure sufficient financing for developing countries.
  The African Development Bank and IDB have submitted a proposal to channel special drawing rights from developed countries to countries that need them in order to increase their lending capacity.
  More than 500 renewable energy-related foreign direct investment projects were announced in the period 2005–2022, representing an aggregate value of close to US$ 170 billion.
  The international agreements promoting the reduction of tariffs on environmentally sound technologies include, among others, the Agreement on Climate Change, Trade and Sustainability, a pioneering treaty signed in 2024 by Costa Rica, Iceland, New Zealand, and Switzerland, which seeks to eliminate tariffs on 360 environmental goods, while defining 114 environmentally friendly services.
  Chile’s strategy to implement the 2030 Agenda stands out given its emphasis on the need for sufficient resources —including technology and modernized government institutions— in order to achieve the SDGs.
  All member countries of the Statistical Conference of the Americas of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) have endorsed the Code of Good Practice in Statistics for Latin America and the Caribbean adopted in the framework of this Conference and encourage its use as a framework for professional conduct in the production and dissemination of official statistics through replicable actions, based on experiences proven to yield satisfactory results and that improve national statistical activity.
  In January 2025, a seminar was held at ECLAC on the measurement of development and its relationship with international cooperation, with the support of Spain and the Ibero-American General Secretariat. The purpose was to discuss and analyse initiatives to measure development beyond per capita GDP, incorporating variables that reflect vulnerabilities, structural challenges and national capacities.

ECLAC recommendations

- International cooperation is fundamental in resource mobilization. Funds from developed countries are a complementary policy option to scale up financing for developing countries.
  International cooperation must be renewed on the basis of a classification that goes beyond per capita GDP, adequately capturing levels of development, especially for middle-income countries.
  In the medium term, it will be crucial to establish the social and economic agreements needed to strengthen direct taxation on income and property, which represents the largest gap vis-à-vis OECD countries.
  One option to increase the availability of resources is the recirculation of special drawing rights from developed countries to developing countries. A second option is the creation of innovative mechanisms, such as liquidity funds financed by developed countries. A third option is to increase the lending capacity of multilateral and subregional banks through higher capitalization, increased capacity to leverage private sector resources and establish more flexible lending criteria, or a combination of these.
  Strengthening domestic resource mobilization is critical to ensure the sustainability of public debt and to make space for public policies geared towards productive, inclusive and sustainable development and the effective guarantee of human rights. Such national efforts must be accompanied by progress at the international level, such as the creation of permanent bodies for sovereign debt relief and restructuring, and a greater supply of financing from international financial institutions under favourable conditions, with conditional rates and long maturities.
  Strengthening institutional governance and technical, operational, political and prospective capabilities is critical in order to foster resource mobilization in the region. Regarding technical capabilities, there is a need to improve the comprehensive public policy management framework that facilitates the mobilization of both public and private financial resources, and to enhance the governance of fiscal sustainability frameworks.
  In terms of operational capabilities, the region’s economies need to develop comprehensive information systems that link the use of available financing with policies in key development areas. It is also vital to strengthen processes associated with the annual national budget, public procurement and national public investment systems to ensure efficient management in line with development priorities.
  With respect to political capabilities, the coordination and coherence between fiscal, monetary, exchange-rate and prudential policies should be improved. In addition, the region should adopt common positions in international forums in order to contribute to reforming the international financial architecture.
  Concerning prospective capabilities, developing the ability to create alternative future scenarios in the region is essential. This will make it possible to anticipate challenges and needs, develop strategies and priorities that will be sustained over time, and encourage informed and strategic decision-making.
  Combining trade and investment policies with productive development policies can help to incorporate new environmentally sound technologies in the region and expand their application.
  International financial institutions should also ensure that they fully respect human rights in their financing and conditionalities. Development financing should be aligned with international standards, address discrimination and other root causes of inequalities, and integrate participation and accountability. This alignment requires, among other things, an economic paradigm shift within these institutions towards a human rights-based economy.
  It is critical that the countries of the region act in a coordinated manner and establish partnerships with other countries that are committed to preserving the multilateral trading system and reforming it to better synergize with the 2030 Agenda.
  There is a need to amend standards and incentives to favour low-carbon investments and to adjust cost-effectiveness criteria to prioritize sustainable options.
  By creating instruments such as nationally determined contributions and long-term climate strategies, countries can mainstream climate change-related decisions across sectors and link them to their development and investment plans, as well as national budgets, to strengthen the coordination and coherence needed between stakeholders and policies for sustainable development.
  Efforts to achieve the SDGs can be accelerated through multi-stakeholder collaboration.
  Achieving the sustainability of national strategies related to independent and quality statistical programmes requires continued investment in national statistical systems in order to meet the needs of institutions responsible for ensuring data production for statistical monitoring of the 2030 Agenda and build core statistical capacity in developing countries, including least developed countries and small island developing States.
  One cross-cutting issue related to Goal 17 is the need to invest in statistical development using inclusive statistical methodologies to obtain high-quality, timely and reliable data disaggregated by multiple characteristics at the same time, such as sex, sexual orientation, age, ethnicity, wealth, migration status, disability, geographical location and other aspects relevant in national contexts.