Leaving no data behind? International organizations and the conflicted global governance of monitoring the Sustainable Development Goals

Monitoring the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) requires an enormous amount of multidimensional data, beyond the narrow confines of headline macroeconomic
statistics. Collecting this data presents a major challenge, however, for poor countries where statistical capacity is low. International organizations such as the World Bank and IMF are at the forefront of efforts to collect the necessary data and improve statistical capacity accordingly. But for these IOs, collecting data from member countries also plays crucial roles in their primary functions as international financial institutions. To what degree is the multidimensional approach of the SDGs mirrored in the statistical practices of the IMF and World Bank? I find a gap between the ambitions of the SDGs and statistical efforts on the ground, particularly in low-income countries. I find that, due to pathologies in the cooperation between IOs, the demands of the IMF prevail over the less coercive efforts of the Bank and other lenders. As a result, the quality of socially and environmentally oriented development statistics suffers while the economic and financial statistics required for macroeconomic surveillance are prioritized. There are negative consequences not only for the quality and availability of data, but also for the aspired development outcomes.