Social Expenditure Monitor for Arab States: Toward making budgets more equitable, efficient and effective to achieve the SDGs

The Social Expenditure Monitor report offers a pioneering assessment of social policy spending in the Arab region to galvanize progress across the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The report looks at ways to enhance public expenditure equity and efficiency, and rebalance priorities towards better public finance management, so as to increase human capital, productivity and growth and realize human rights.

The report presents a new framework for measuring social expenditures in seven dimensions, by capturing critical social development priorities aligned with the SDGs. Through detailed data, macro-econometric modelling, and analysis of public financial management diagnostics, the report aims to optimize links between expenditure choices and macroeconomic objectives, provide a basis for better statistics, and strengthen advocacy for much-needed fiscal policy reforms to meet various objectives crucial for macroeconomic and social stability. The report’s recommendations, summarized in an 11-point agenda, support Arab countries in devising strong budgets and in making expenditure choices more equitable, efficient and effective to ensure that no one is left behind.

The Social Expenditure Monitor Report, jointly produced with UNDP and UNICEF, was launched at a regional meeting on the 24th of November, 2022. 

For more information on the report, kindly visit the The Social Expenditure Monitor Report main page.