Due to the impact of the COVID-19 on the economy, Nigeria will face a six-year delay in achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Tuesday.
The Managing Director, IMF, Kristalina Georgieva, in a statement explained that as countries worked to beat the COVID-19 pandemic and ensure recovery, they must also work to give everyone a fair shot at the future that was sustainable, more resilient, and more inclusive,
Georgieva said, “Our staff recently presented new research on how the crisis has set back the path to the SDGs.
“We analysed the financing gaps to achieve the SDGs in five key sectors: education, health, roads, electricity, and water and sanitation.
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“And we applied this framework to four country case studies – Rwanda, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Cambodia. Not surprisingly, achieving the SDGs will be even more challenging after the pandemic.
“To be more specific, what we are assessing is that the financing needs of the SDGs will increase by an average annual two and a half percentage points of Gross Domestic Product, or almost $60bn per year for all low income countries.
“In other words, the road to travel has become tougher. Enormous challenges are faced by all countries with high vulnerabilities.
“In Nigeria, for instance, because of the pandemic, the country faces a six-year delay in achieving its SDGs. In Rwanda, it is five years.”
She recalled that the IMF raised its global growth forecast to six per cent in 2021 and four per cent in 2022, and advised policymakers to adopt exceptional and synchronised fiscal and monetary actions to cushion the impact of the crisis.
