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Kenya pledges new funding for implementing UN goals

Xinhua, November 9, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Kenyan treasury will mobilize new resources from the domestic market to hasten implementation of sustainable development goals (SDGs), an official said Tuesday.

Cabinet Secretary in the National Treasury Henry Rotich said the government will rely on tax revenues and stock market to generate money to fund projects that catalyze inclusive growth.

"The SDGs set ambitious but costly targets whose speedy implementation requires massive capital injection from the domestic market. Private sector loans and grants too are required to finance projects identified in the UN Agenda 2030," said Rotich.

He spoke in Nairobi during a media briefing on the upcoming global forum on implementation of SDGs to be held in Nairobi from Nov. 28 to Dec. 1

Kenya will be the first African country to host the second high-level summit on implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda that will be attended by heads of state, policymakers, industry executives, scholars and campaigners.

Rotich said that 3,000 delegates from 160 countries are expected to attend the four-day summit that will adopt a comprehensive blue print to advance the global sustainability agenda.

Kenya has participated in the global discourse to reactivate the momentum towards achievement of UN 2030 agenda that focus on inclusive and green development, peace, good governance and gender parity.

Rotich said that Kenya is committed to the implementation of a pact on financing SDGs that was endorsed at a summit in Addis Ababa last year.

"We are in the process of realigning SDGs with our vision 2030 and the African Union Agenda 2063. The UN Agenda 2030 is at the center of our policy formulation and budgeting," said the cabinet secretary for treasury

He noted that Kenya has relied on innovative financing mechanisms like public private partnerships to implement projects that promote sustainable development.

"The government has been able to initiate projects in the social sectors like education and health using domestic resources. As a result, poverty levels have gone down from 56 to 40 percent in less than a decade," said Rotich

He added that compared with foreign aid, domestic resource mobilization and increased trade would offer long-term solution to endemic poverty in Kenya. Endit