At the heart of development lies a simple yet unresolved question: how do we finance a fairer future? Today, the business of money is failing those who need it the most.

There are five years remaining in the 2030 Agenda with fewer than 20 per cent of SDG targets on track. The 2024/25 Human Development Report warns that decades of progress, reflected in the Human Development Index, have flatlined, with no clear recovery from the blows dealt by the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent crises. With deep cuts and reductions from traditional donors, along with rising, but still aspirational funding possibilities from non-traditional donors, philanthropies and the private sector, development needs still face a widening financing gap at a time of fiscal stress uncertainty.

According to the State Bank of Pakistan, the country's external debt stock reached around $271 billion as of March 2025. Debt servicing has nearly tripled over the past 15?years – from $4.5?billion in FY2008-09 to $14.7?billion in FY2023-24. The recently announced FY2025-26 federal budget allocates nearly $28.9?billion to debt servicing, amounting to almost half of total federal expenditures.

In contrast, development spending is budgeted at just $3.5?billion. This sharp disparity highlights the deep fiscal compression Pakistan faces and the urgent trade-offs between stabilisation........

© The Express Tribune