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President William Ruto has called for a USD 500 billion (Ksh64.4 trillion) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) stimulus package.

Speaking during the Summit of the Future’s Interactive Dialogue in the US, Ruto cited the 2024 Inter-Agency Task Force on Financing for Development (FfD4) report, which has sounded the alarm on a looming sustainable development crisis, driven by financing challenges that jeopardize both the SDGs and climate action.

“In the circumstances, the upcoming 4th International Conference on Financing for Development may be our last opportunity to make the radical changes needed to realign our development trajectories to meet the SDGs by 2030. We must urgently close financing gaps, bridge institutional divides, and restore trust in multilateralism. However, the current multilateral system is clearly struggling to address these immense, complex, and dynamic challenges effectively,” Ruto stated.

Achieving SDGs

According to Ruto, the current multilateral institutional architecture is dysfunctional or highly ineffective, and cannot be relied upon to provide the solutions the world urgently needs.

“To achieve the SDGs, we must address the structural and financial issues hampering multilateral institutions, particularly their negative impact on developing countries,” he said.

Ruto cited challenges such as limited fiscal ability, rising debt, unfair credit rating frameworks, and uneven interest rates.

“In the face of deteriorating global economic conditions, worsened by a relentless climate crisis, these weaknesses limit opportunities, especially in low-income nations,” he added.

According to Ruto one in three developing countries is at risk of defaulting on their debt obligations due to unfair and unjust global financial system which has compounded economic crises and deepened inequalities.

“As a matter of urgency, therefore, we must implement radical reforms to bridge the disastrous financial divide between nations. Kenya supports the UN Secretary-General’s call for a USD 500 billion SDG Stimulus package, which is aligned with a vision to secure long-term financing for sustainable development and undertake the reform of the architecture of international financing,” Ruto added.

The president says that only 15 per cent of the SDGs are on track. He argues that without urgent reforms and realignment of global financing structures, the growing finance gap will turn into a stark sustainable development divide, unjustly consigning millions to chronic vulnerability.

“Beyond the pursuit of fundamental financial reforms, inclusive development must remain our defining agenda. Let us unite around a commitment to act within a rapidly closing window of opportunity and take bold, unprecedented steps to reform international financial institutions to meet the world’s most urgent development and climate financing needs. Any further delay will irreversibly derail our ambitions for sustainable development,” he added.