FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 14 OCTOBER 2020
Civil Society steps up call for debt cancellation
Over 550 civil society organisations call for immediate debt cancellation to help lower-income countries fight Covid-19 in an open letter delivered to governments, international institutions, and lenders.
- As world leaders come together at the IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings and G20 Finance Ministers meeting this week, over 550 groups from almost 100 countries call on them to cancel debts, including debts owed to private creditors
- Campaigners demand that this is followed by an agreement for a fair and binding framework for resolving debt crises longer term.
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G20 Finance Ministers have just announced a 6-month extension to their Debt Service Suspension Initiative, launched earlier this year. With the Covid-19 crisis far from over, 550+ civil society groups are calling on world leaders to do more, including cancelling rather than only suspending debts [1]. The statement is being sent to governments, international institutions and lender groups this week during the annual meetings of the World Bank and IMF.
Despite repeated calls from civil society, there has been only a partial suspension of bilateral (country to country) debt included in the DSSI, while private lenders and the World Bank are yet to offer any debt suspension or cancellation. Over $300bn [2] is being spent annually by lower-income countries on debt payments and there are growing calls for more action to be taken so that countries can invest in vital healthcare and social protection spending and support their economies during the pandemic.
Recently the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres also called on world leaders to do more to stop soaring deficits, particularly for countries in Africa, where there are 12 of the 23 countries at risk of debt distress [3]. There are chronic levels of debt across many regions, including small Island states which are being hit by a double blow of debt and climate crisis.
XXXX. said:
“Countries are being hit by an unprecedented economic shock, and at the same time face an enormous healthcare emergency. World leaders have so far failed to adequately step up to the plate. It is deeply unjust that while hundreds of thousands of people need healthcare and financial support, private lenders like banks and hedge funds continue to rake in profits while refusing to play their part and cancel debts.
“We are calling for not just debt suspension, but debt cancellation. Suspension merely kicks the can down the road and will lead to a greater debt crisis in the near future. If world leaders truly want to support a just recovery from the pandemic we need to see real action at the meeting in November and the cancellation of payments by the poorest countries to private, multilateral and bilateral lenders for at least the next four years.” [amend with your own comment]
Signatories of the statement include [your organisations name] and the global, regional and national networks including Asian People’s Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD), Jubileo Sur Americas, African Forum and Network on Debt and Development (AFRODAD), Red Latinoamericana por Justicia Económica y Social (LATINDADD), Europan Network on Debt and Development (EURODAD) ActionAid International, Fight Inequality Alliance, 350.org, Oxfam International, Corporate Accountability (add more if you wish)
The statement calls for:
- Immediate and unconditional debt cancellation from all lenders, including bilateral, private and multilateral lenders, for at least the next four years. The G20 to support moves by any country to stop making payments on debt to private external lenders.
- The use of these resources for healthcare, social protection and other essential services and rights, as well as for urgent climate action.
- National Debt Audits, to critically examine and address national debts.
- The creation through the United Nations of a systematic, comprehensive and enforceable process for sovereign debt restructurings.[4]
- Reparations for the damages caused to countries, peoples and nature, due to the contracting, use and payment of unsustainable and illegitimate debts and the conditions imposed to guarantee their collection.
Notes
[Include a sentence on your organisation and what you do]
[1] The full statement is available here: [Add link to public statement]
[3] Calculated using the World Bank Debt Statistics table: https://data.worldbank.org/products/ids
[4] See ‘We can work it out: 10 civil society principles for sovereign debt resolution’ https://eurodad.org/Entries/view/1547087/2019/09/17/We-can-work-it-out-10-civil-society-principles-for-sovereign-debt-resolution