Wednesday, 01 October, 2025
Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus has issued a sweeping call to world leaders to rewire the global economic system and close the yawning US$4 trillion annual investment gap blocking progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Speaking at the UN headquarters during the First Biennial Summit for a Sustainable, Inclusive and Resilient Global Economy, the Nobel laureate framed the moment as “full of both promise and responsibility”, urging governments to turn lofty commitments into hard action.
In a forceful speech, Yunus set out five priorities to reshape development finance, arguing that “an economy of dignity, shared prosperity and resilience” was not merely desirable but essential to prevent entire nations from being left behind.
His blueprint ranged from fairer tax regimes and global cooperation on corporate taxation, to debt reform that empowers rather than cripples developing economies. “Debt should be a tool for resilience and development, not austerity,” he said, in a thinly veiled criticism of the current international financial architecture.
Yunus warned that shrinking official development assistance (ODA) or cutting UN budgets would be “counterproductive” for countries like Bangladesh, which host more than 1.3 million Rohingya refugees while simultaneously battling climate shocks and economic turbulence.
Instead, he called for an expansion of global support and innovative finance mechanisms that mobilise private capital for public good. “Blended finance and enterprises that reinvest profits to solve problems are proven drivers of jobs, inclusion, and dignity,” he said, pushing his signature idea of social business as a mainstream solution.
He further demanded transparency in resource allocation, citizen oversight of spending, and action against illicit financial flows — all to restore public trust and make SDG financing accountable. The call was as much moral as it was economic.
“When a woman starts a business, when youth gain solar power and IT, when children in settlements attend schools with access to nutrition and sanitation — transformations become real, and enduring,” Yunus said, illustrating how financial inclusion translates into justice.
Analysts say Yunus’s intervention puts pressure on both advanced economies and global institutions to confront the systemic inequities that leave poorer nations with crushing debt and shrinking fiscal space.
The Chief Adviser’s speech underscores a wider demand from the Global South: that the Seville Commitment, adopted earlier this year, must not remain a diplomatic statement but evolve into enforceable reforms that redirect capital to where it is most needed.
For Bangladesh, the stakes are existential. Its ability to navigate climate crises, refugee management and economic modernisation depends on a financing model that is fair, predictable and resilient.
Yunus’s message to the world was unambiguous — without a just economic order, the promise of the SDGs will remain hollow rhetoric.
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Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus has issued a sweeping call to world leaders to rewire the global economic system and close the yawning US$4 trillion annual investment gap blocking progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Speaking at the UN headquarters during the First Biennial Summit for a Sustainable, Inclusive and Resilient Global Economy, the Nobel laureate framed the moment as “full of both promise and responsibility”, urging governments to turn lofty commitments into hard action.
In a forceful speech, Yunus set out five priorities to reshape development finance, arguing that “an economy of dignity, shared prosperity and resilience” was not merely desirable but essential to prevent entire nations from being left behind.
His blueprint ranged from fairer tax regimes and global cooperation on corporate taxation, to debt reform that empowers rather than cripples developing economies. “Debt should be a tool for resilience and development, not austerity,” he said, in a thinly veiled criticism of the current international financial architecture.
Yunus warned that shrinking official development assistance (ODA) or cutting UN budgets would be “counterproductive” for countries like Bangladesh, which host more than 1.3 million Rohingya refugees while simultaneously battling climate shocks and economic turbulence.
Instead, he called for an expansion of global support and innovative finance mechanisms that mobilise private capital for public good. “Blended finance and enterprises that reinvest profits to solve problems are proven drivers of jobs, inclusion, and dignity,” he said, pushing his signature idea of social business as a mainstream solution.
He further demanded transparency in resource allocation, citizen oversight of spending, and action against illicit financial flows — all to restore public trust and make SDG financing accountable. The call was as much moral as it was economic.
“When a woman starts a business, when youth gain solar power and IT, when children in settlements attend schools with access to nutrition and sanitation — transformations become real, and enduring,” Yunus said, illustrating how financial inclusion translates into justice.
Analysts say Yunus’s intervention puts pressure on both advanced economies and global institutions to confront the systemic inequities that leave poorer nations with crushing debt and shrinking fiscal space.
The Chief Adviser’s speech underscores a wider demand from the Global South: that the Seville Commitment, adopted earlier this year, must not remain a diplomatic statement but evolve into enforceable reforms that redirect capital to where it is most needed.
For Bangladesh, the stakes are existential. Its ability to navigate climate crises, refugee management and economic modernisation depends on a financing model that is fair, predictable and resilient.
Yunus’s message to the world was unambiguous — without a just economic order, the promise of the SDGs will remain hollow rhetoric.
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