Sustainable Development Goals and the National Budgetary Processes

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a comprehensive set of goals, targets, and indicators agreed upon in 2015 by 193 UN member states. Such an extensive framework of goals requires governments worldwide to localize the SDGs for the local contexts, for which the UN offers various instruments. One of the tools for SDG localization is SDG-based state budgeting. However, due to the recent emergence of this practice, there is a gap in the literature on current trends and existing limitations of the initiative. Firstly, by conducting an extensive content analysis of 210 Volunteer National Reviews, this study finds three main approaches to SDG-based state budgeting adopted by governments. Secondly, the associated limitations in the used approaches and recommendations to address them are defined. Third, this study applies the developed knowledge to an action plan for introducing the SDGs to the budgetary frameworks of the Kyrgyz Republic using a multi-dimensional budget tagging technique. Most importantly, this study paves the road for further comparison of the initiative with other tools, its efficiency in SDG progress, and its implication for fiscal decentralization processes.