• Financing the MDGs

Financing the MDGs

Goal Eight of the Millennium Development Goals requires all countries to enter a global partnership for development to implement the MDGs. This partnership includes the provision of adequate resources in support of the developing countries’ own efforts. A consensus has emerged that the financing gap to reach the MDGs is around US$50 billion and that another US$20 billion is required to address unmet Global Public Goods (GPGs). Therefore, reaching the MDGs by 2015 calls for rapid increases of public finance for development.

The main objectives of this paper are to:

1. identify and compare potential new sources for development financing that are part of the international debate
   evaluate their opportunities and risks in view of meeting the MDGs by 2015
   present options for a Swiss commitment in future.

   In the light of the current international and Swiss context and the opportunities and risks of the instruments debated, three main recommendations for Switzerland’s position on NSDF are made:

   • Switzerland should prioritise ecological taxes, such as a kerosene tax, among the NSDF and become active in appropriate ways at the national and international level
   • Switzerland should prepare meaningful answers to other upcoming NSDF challenges at the international level, particularly regarding a freestanding/combined IFF and the Tobin/Spahn Taxes
   • other NSDF options should not be lost sight of.
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