The Road to the SDGs

developing countries in huge debts, not a painkiller model that only treats the symptoms. It must also be a model that provides development gains to all countries, advanced and developed alike. Such is the model that was introduced by the Islamic Development Bank under the theme "Making markets work for development 1/5/10" as I explained earlier and as IsDB actually started to apply. The main reason behind the increase in external debt for developing countries is borrowing. Indeed, borrowing is needed to finance development, realize economic growth and provide jobs for the large numbers of labour market entrants every year, but the problem lies in the borrowing modes that do not ensure transparency and that the funding be directed to carefully studied income-generating projects that would enable the country concerned to repay its debt instalments and service. Add to that the humble role played by the private sector and the non-profit sector in development. IsDB's new business model provides comprehensive solutions and well-studied projects. It focuses on sectors and industries where countries enjoy competitive advantages and ensures transparency, thanks to a country platform based on the block chain technology that presents projects in full detail, including approvals, disbursements and tenders. The model also guides project design and implementation using the value chain approach, which ensures complete, not partial, solutions for industries. There are various methods for project implementation that ensure they continue in the long-term without stumbling. The external debt crisis is a structural crisis largely caused by the reliance of developing countries on exporting raw materials to industrialised countries, with the prices of such materials being subject to external factors and global price volatility, added to increased protectionism recently, which has put globalisation on either of two tracks. All these factors affect the availability of foreign currency in developing and poor countries, thus forcing them to resort to ever-increasing indebtedness. The situation is further exacerbated by poor performance and lack of transparency. Recently, there has been an increasing trend towards exchanging external debt with public sector assets, in hope that this initiative would [ 14 ]