UN General Assembly
2018

Many of the structural factors that impede our ability to narrow the persistent income gap between developing and advanced economies can be addressed through the successful implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Global estimates of the scale of the SDGs financing gap run on the order of from $5 trillion to $7 trillion per annum. Meaningful progress in that regard will require us to tap into various sources of funding. I cannot overstate the importance of including innovative ways of mobilizing private-sector financing. In addition, several small island developing States like Jamaica are deemed to have graduated to middle-income status primarily by virtue of their GDP per capita. Many of them, however, are highly indebted and vulnerable. High debt ratios constrain our ability to secure domestic fiscal resources at a reasonable cost for the implementation of national development goals. The reality is that even though many have made progress in reducing levels of extreme poverty, several of our broader development efforts have stalled.