Domestic Resource Mobilization in Low-Income Countries: Proposal for a Surge in Multilateral Support

Rising debt vulnerability in low-income countries (LICs)is emerging as a front-burner issue.Analysts at the IMF and elsewhere are tracking increases in public debt ratios that had fallen after the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative and the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative.Forty percent of LICs are either in, or at high risk of, debt distress. Many factors have contributed to rising debt-to-GDP ratios: falling commodity prices, deteriorating fiscal balances, conflict, and corruption, among others. The larger fiscal deficits are fully or partially accounted for by increased public investment in about half of LICs.Which brings us to the challenge of financing the SDGs.