LocationsThe Final SDG Push:
Pakistan’s Strategic Choices
By Dr. Aisha GhausPasha | Former Minister of State for Finance and Revenue, Government of Pakistan, Former Finance Minister, Government of Punjab, and Former Director, Institute of Public Policy, BNU, Lahore.
The final push towards Agenda 2030 demands more than incrementalism. It requires reimagining the role of the political process, public finances and institutions.
Pakistan enters the final five-year stretch towards the 2030 deadline for the SDGs, it faces a stark reality: its SDG ranking is 140th out of 167 countries; its score on the SDGs index is 57 out of 100, achieving an increase of only 7 percent over the last decade; it ranks the lowest in comparison to other South Asian countries (India 99, Sri Lanka 93, Nepal 85, Bangladesh 114, having an average SDG Index score of 66.8).
While there has been progress in some areas, persistent stagnation and major challenges continue in others. According to the SDG Dashboard, out of the 17 goals of the SDGs, Pakistan faces major challenges in 12 including Goal 1(No Poverty), Goal 2 (Zero Hunger), Goal 3 (Good Health), Goal 4 (Quality Education), Goal 5 (Gender Equality), and Goal 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth).
Despite a good framework and well-intentioned ownership of the 2030 Agenda, delivery on the SDG targets has been inconsistent, in fact, it has been poor. The key tipping points are: (1) strategic redirection of public finances—moving towards outcome-oriented budgetary frameworks; (2) governance reforms with citizen-centered policy-making and (3) national ownership of the 2030 Agenda, including by the private sector.
Strategic Redirection of Public Finances
Public finances in Pakistan remain predominantly resource-driven and constrained by non-discretionary recurrent expenditures. In a country where debt servicing preempts 58 percent of federal spending and the total federal revenues-to-GDP ratio is just 11.6 percent, public expenditures, especially development allocations, are often spread thin across sectors and spatially, thereby limiting impact.
A radical reprioritization is required, centered on a few catalytic SDGs where measurable gains are still within reach. Some economists indicate that the primary goal should be Goal 1 on poverty. This will imply that emphasis will have to be placed on goals which help in the achievement of Goal 1. These include Goal 4 on education, Goal 5 on gender equality, Goal 7 on renewable energy, Goal 8 on good jobs, Goal 10 on reduced inequalities and Goal 13 on climate action. Achievement of the primary goal of poverty reduction will also facilitate the achievement of Goal 2 on hunger and Goal 5 on health. Therefore, consolidating spending into high-impact programs in especially deprived regions with clear results framework is essential.
There is also the need for localization of the SDGs. This means that with a focus on selected SDGs, individual targets may be fixed at a more realistic level for 2030 and interventions designed to achieve maximum outcomes.
Pakistan should transition to a results-driven budget process across federal and provincial levels, linking allocations directly to the SDG outcomes. This requires strengthening capacity within the planning departments and integrating real-time performance data into budget reviews. The Punjab government's past experimentation with performance-based budgeting offers an example.
It is also crucial to ensure allocative and technical efficiency in all public spending. To get the best value for money, proper unit costing of expenditure should be undertaken by all provincial governments for each service delivery to minimize wastage and corruption.
The provinces hold the bulk of implementation responsibilities for the SDGs post-18th Amendment but face fragmented revenue streams and limited fiscal space. There is a sliding down of own fiscal effort, which is less than 1 percent of the GDP. Strengthening own-source revenues especially, property- related taxes, sales tax on services and agricultural income tax, will empower provincial governments to invest much more and sustainably in SDG-linked infrastructure and services.
It is also important to ensure that federal transfers to provinces (currently provinces receive about PKR 8 trillion as revenue sharing transfers from the federal government as per the 7th National Finance Commission Award) are not majorly diverted to other non-SDG sectors such as sharing federal functional responsibilities. However, the provinces should fully take on the functional responsibilities as devolved by the 18th Constitutional Amendment and finance them fully by their own revenues. This is essential for macroeconomic stability.
Mobilizing Private and Climate Finance should be focused on as well. With Pakistan’s public debt liabilities at an unprecedented high, traditional development finance is clearly inadequate. SDG Investment to Debt swaps can be employed, especially in the case of bilateral debt. Looking ahead, Pakistan should focus on blended finance mechanisms, ESG bonds, and climate-related funding like the Loss and Damage Fund or Green Climate Fund, with clear frameworks for impact tracking.
Fiscal reforms will be ineffective without transparent and inclusive governance. Citizen engagement in budgetary decisions, gender-responsiveness in public spendings, and effective digital public finance management tools can facilitate sustained reform. Pakistan’s cabinet has just approved the first National AI Policy. The policy should first be utilized to improve service delivery to ordinary citizens of the country.
Governance Reforms
Pakistan’s SDG progress is a mirror of its institutional landscape—fragmented and under-resourced. The country has an opportunity to recalibrate its governance architecture to meet the 2030 goals. Success in institutional reform will determine whether the SDGs remain a distant objective or become a reality.
Institutional coordination has remained a challenge. Pakistan’s SDG framework has suffered from duplication and unclear mandates across ministries and government departments. There needs to be clear lines of responsibility across federal, provincial, and local tiers for each SDG target to end the institutional gridlock.
The establishment of SDG Units across the provinces was a move in the right direction, but these units must evolve into policy making, monitoring and data hubs with platforms for sharing good practices down to the local level.
The National Parliament of Pakistan has also taken a keen interest in increasing awareness about the SDGs and improving the performance across various indicators. Now, the Provincial Assemblies should follow suit. There is a need for the National Economic Council (NEC) to look at the proposed strategy for achieving the key SDGs and for it to conduct periodic assessments of the rate of progress on these targets.
The five-year national URAAN Plan, from 2025 to 2030, should have targeted the SDGs. The involvement of Parliamentarians, representatives of non-governmental organizations, and research institutions can bridge the trust gap that has cropped up in public institutions.
National Ownership of the SDGs
Ownership building of the 2030 Agenda through awareness creation, sensitization, and incentivization of the private sector and NGOs will ensure leveraging that is so essential to augment scarce public sector resources to achieve the SDGs. Corporate social responsibility can be a multiplier, as can the media, in terms of raising awareness, especially in the case of preventable diseases, family planning, and the impact of climate change.
To conclude, the final push towards Agenda 2030 demands more than incrementalism. It requires reimagining the role of the political process, public finances and institutions. Pakistan has five years to turn its fiscal and governance reforms, anchored in inclusion and innovation, as tools for transformation to sustainable development and visibly more progress on the SDGs.