Two-thirds of developing countries on track of meeting MDGs target - report

BY BUSINESS REPORTER

TWO -thirds of developing countries are on track or close to meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), according to the World Bank and International Monetary Funds (IMF) latest update on progress toward the 2015 targets.

The Global Monitoring Report (GMR) 2011 noted that developing countries will likely achieve the MDGs for gender parity in primary and secondary education, and for access to safe drinking water, and will be very close on hunger and on primary education completion.

“Progress is too slow, however, on health-related outcomes such as child and maternal mortality and access to sanitation — the world will likely miss these MDGs by 2015.”

On the whole, the fight against poverty is progressing well. Based on current economic projections, the world remains on track to reduce by half the number of people living in extreme poverty. The number of people living on less than $1.25 a day is projected to be 883 million in 2015, compared with 1.4 billion in 2005 and 1.8 billion in 1990. Much of this progress reflects rapid growth in China and India, while many African countries are lagging behind: 17 countries are far from halving extreme poverty, even as the aggregate goals will be reached.

Last year’s Global Monitoring Report 2011 tagged “Improving the Odds of Achieving the MDGs” delved into country performance and revealed a diverse, and often hopeful, picture.

For example, among developing countries that are falling short on the MDG, half are close to becoming on-track. With improved policies and faster growth, these countries can still achieve the targets in 2015 or soon after.

“Reaching the MDGs is a significant achievement for developing countries. But there still is much to do in reducing poverty and improving health outcomes even in the successful countries,” said Hans Timmer, director of development prospects at the World Bank. “Donors should build on this success and help countries make the next step through investments in effective service delivery.

“Developing countries will also likely achieve the MDGs for gender parity in primary and secondary education and for access to safe drinking water, and will be very close on hunger and on primary education completion. But progress is slow and targets may be missed on others. Among developing countries, 45 percent are far from meeting the target on access to sanitation; 39 percent and 38 percent are far from the maternal and child mortality targets, respectively,” the report stated.

“Good macroeconomic policies remain crucial to progress toward the MDGs,” said Hugh Bredenkamp, deputy director of the IMF’s Strategy, Policy, and Review Department. “The challenge in low income countries is to sustain and accelerate growth through better policies that will create jobs and greater opportunities for the private sector. Advanced economies need to do their part to secure the global recovery, by repairing and reforming their financial systems and tackling their fiscal imbalances.”

In some countries, it will be important to focus on support for the world’s socially excluded groups, including indigenous people as well as ethnic and linguistic minorities. Most MDG indicators among these groups are far worse than in the general population, especially in terms of income poverty.

To better understand results on the ground, the report presents findings and lessons from impact evaluations in health and education. Such evaluations often show development assistance for health and education has risen to unprecedented levels in volume, but has not generated the expected improvements in outcomes.

Delfin Go, lead economist at the World Bank and lead author, said, “Certain health and education outcomes are disappointing, in part because spending has focused largely on increasing the quantity of services, while not paying enough attention to quality. A key lesson is that strengthening institutions and improving incentives, for example, by enhancing the role of performance in setting the pay of health workers, are vital to better outcomes.”

Brad McDonald, deputy division chief and IMF coordinator for the report, emphasised that economic growth continues to be a major factor in reaching the MDGs. “Although the recent crisis set back progress, many low-income countries that had strong macroeconomic policies were able to soften the impact of the crisis with active tax and spending policies,” he said.