Moderator

• Montserrat Xilotl
  LAC Regional Hub, UNDP, Team leader a.i. Environment and Energy Team

Panelists

• María Cecilia Facetti
  Ministry of Economy and Finance, Paraguay, Technical Coordinator, General Budget Directorate

• Luis Antonio Molina Chacón
  Ministry of Finance, Costa Rica, Vice Minister of Expenditure

• Perla Soto
  Ministry of Finance and Economy, Dominican Republic., Responsible of the Sustainable Development Department

Background
With only five years left to achieve the 2030 Agenda, Latin American and Caribbean countries have made steady progress in modernizing fiscal systems and improving public spending management. The region’s average tax-to-GDP ratio reflects ongoing efforts to enhance revenue collection, fiscal equity, and efficiency, while linking fiscal policies more closely with sustainable development outcomes.

Governments across the region are increasingly adopting innovations such as SDG budget tagging, results-based budgeting, social and fiscal impact evaluations, and participatory budgeting mechanisms. These initiatives 
demonstrate a broader shift toward transparency, accountability, and people centered public finance.

The Sevilla Commitment provides a renewed framework for accelerating these efforts, calling on countries to strengthen fiscal capacity, improve spending quality and transparency, and promote coherence between economic, social, and environmental policies. Building inclusive and sustainable fiscal systems, alongside efficient public spending, is essential to reduce inequalities, foster resilience, and advance transformative development.

However, challenges persist. According to ECLAC, inefficiencies in public expenditure—estimated at roughly 4.6% of regional GDP—highlight significant potential to redirect resources toward priority sectors such as health, education, social protection, infrastructure, and care systems. Achieving greater coherence between revenues and expenditures will enable the region to translate fiscal advances into tangible, long-term development results.

Objectives

• Exchange experiences and good practices on how governments in Latin America and the Caribbean are aligning revenue and expenditure policies to maximize their contribution to sustainable development. 
• Highlight fiscal, budgetary, and public management innovations that enhance equity, efficiency, and sustainability, in line with the Sevilla Commitment and its calls to strengthen fiscal capacity and spending quality.
• Identify opportunities to deepen coherence between planning, budgeting, and evaluation systems during this critical second half of the Decade of Action toward 2030.

Guiding questions

• What innovations in fiscal and budgetary policy are contributing to a better alignment between public revenues and expenditures with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)?
• How can governments improve tax progressivity and the quality of public spending to advance toward greater equity and social impact? 
• Which regional experiences can be scaled up to strengthen fiscal coherence and accelerate the implementation of the Sevilla Commitment and the 2030 Agenda?