COVID-19 Effects on Public Finance and SDG Priorities in Developing Countries: Comparative Evidence from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic, an unprecedented global health crisis, rapidly transferred into a global economic and social crisis. The pandemic has threatened the world’s commitment to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 as governments in developing countries have shifted their priorities from attaining SDGs, to providing urgent financial needs to save lives and prevent recession in hopes for a rapid economic recovery. The rerouting of public funding priorities has undermined the progress and achievement of SDGs. We employed a mixed-method and carried out a comparative study using pre- and post-public financial data of two developing countries in South Asia; Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. A threefold analysis was conducted to investigate the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic in two countries, the impact of the pandemic on external and internal public finance and the effect of the pandemic in shifting the policy priorities from SDGs to economic survival. This study found that both countries are highly vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic and are suffering from the lack of financing from external sources through the private sector as well as an increasing foreign debt. There is mounting pressure on the fiscal balance in both countries.

Navigating post-pandemic challenges: Bangladesh faces BoP deficit and rising inflation

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Sustainable development goals disclosures: Evidence from Sri Lanka

“…The UN SDGs place a strong emphasis on developing countries to ensure that "no one should be left behind" (The Borgen Project, 2018). Therefore, it is essential to direct scholarly attention to the corporate sector in South Asian countries like Sri Lanka (Weerasinghe et al, 2023), where the government lacks sufficient resources to fund the SDGs and is currently struggling with an economic crisis (Colombage et al, 2023). Sri Lanka is a country with a progressive accounting profession that is amplified by professional accounting bodies and universities (Senaratne & Gunarathne, 2017).…”