Public finance and democratic control are key to achieving the SDGs

In the blog post, Boys and Kishimoto question the financing of water and sanitation. Leading international institutions emphasise the role of private finance in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), while a far more realistic option is the mobilising of public finance for infrastructure to provide essential services for all.

The G20 calls for an “enabling environment” for private investment in infrastructure and public services, whereby countries are encouraged to implement public-private partnerships (PPPs). But the reality is that PPPs provide only a tiny portion of infrastructure investment in the world. Public finance remains the overwhelmingly predominant model worldwide, providing for well over 90 per cent of infrastructure investment.

Read the blog post.