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The Millennium Development Goals

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are a set of development targets agreed by the international community, which center on halving poverty and improving the welfare of the world's poorest by 2015.

The IMF contributes to this effort through its advice, technical assistance, and lending to countries, as well as its role in mobilizing donor support.
Together with the World Bank, it assesses progress toward the MDGs through an annual Global Monitoring Report.

What are the Millennium Development Goals?
In September 2000, at the United Nations Millennium Summit, world leaders agreed to eight specific and measurable development goals—now called the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)—to be achieved by 2015.

The first seven goals focus on eradicating extreme poverty and hunger; achieving universal primary education; promoting gender equality and empowering women; reducing child mortality; improving maternal health; combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; and ensuring environmental sustainability.

The eighth goal calls for the creation of a global partnership for development, with targets for aid, trade, and debt relief. A significant step toward meeting the MDGs was taken in Monterrey, Mexico, in March 2002, when the international community adopted a two pillar strategy, whereby sustained pursuit of sound policies and good governance by the low-income countries is to be matched by larger and more effective international support.

How does the IMF help countries make progress towards the MDGs?
There are many ways in which the IMF helps poor countries achieve the sustained high levels of growth that establish the basis for poverty reduction—including through policy advice, technical assistance, financial support and debt relief.
It also tries to ensure that developed countries' policies are supportive of low-income countries' development efforts, by advocating for increased foreign aid, the opening of markets to developing countries' exports, and the maintenance of a healthy enabling international economic climate.

The Global Monitoring Report—Measuring Progress.
The Global Monitoring Report (GMR) is an annual report that aims to assess how the world is doing in implementing the policies and actions needed to achieve the MDGs and related outcomes.
It is produced jointly by the World Bank and the IMF, in collaboration with other international partners.

GMR 2008: MDG Prospects - Reasons for Optimism and Concerns.
The 2008 Global Monitoring Report, the fifth in the annual series, concludes that thanks to high economic growth in the past five years.

The world is on course to achieve the first MDG-halving extreme poverty between 1990 and 2015. The number of people living on less than $1/day declined by 278 million between 1990 and 2004.
The decline in poverty has been the largest in regions with the strongest growth, such as East Asia.

Prospects are better in education. The world is likely to miss the goal of universal primary school completion but will come close. However, sizable shortfalls are likely in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. The goal of eliminating gender disparity in primary and secondary education seems attainable by 2015, although Sub-Saharan Africa is likely to fall short. Prospects for achieving gender parity in tertiary education are less promising.

How the IMF Helps Poor Countries.
The IMF provides low-income countries with policy advice, technical assistance, and financial support. Low-income countries receive more than half of the technical assistance provided by the Fund, and financial support is extended at low interest rates and over relatively long time horizons. Low-income countries with high external debt burdens are also eligible for debt relief.


Lending.
The IMF provides financial assistance to low-income countries experiencing protracted balance of payments problems through its Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF).
The interest rate on PRGF loans is concessional (only 0.5 percent), and loans are repaid over a period of 10 years (with 5½ years' grace).In addition, the IMF provides Emergency Assistance for natural disasters and to post-conflict countries. The assistance is repaid over 5 years and donor contributions are used to subsidize the interest rate to 0.5 percent for low-income countries.