ABSTRACT
Primary surplus requirements for government budgets may need to be adjusted to allow countries to increase public investments for the Goals. Modest levels of official development assistance (ODA) may be needed to help middle-income countries redress especially difficult “pockets of poverty.” In addition to the direct costs of investments in the Goals, there are added costs at the national and international level—in capacity-building expenditures of bilateral and multilateral agencies, outlays for science and technology, enhanced debt relief, and other areas. The Millennium Development Goals lay out a challenging and achievable vision for dramatically reducing poverty in all its forms, with tremendous benefits for the entire world. Where institutional reforms and good policies are in place, high-income countries should, in the spirit of the Monterrey Consensus, make good on their commitment to increasing ODA for them to work toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals.
