The Jubilee Blog

COVID Crisis: G20 Defers Action on Aid, Tax and Debt Cancellation

By Zachary Conti

 

G20 finance ministers agreed to extend debt payment relief for the 73 poorest countries and, in principle, to have a common framework to cancel debts. The G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors met on global COVID-19 response plans ahead of the Annual IMF and World Bank Meetings.

"Debt payment relief for the poorest countries is good news, but it's a short term solution,” said Eric LeCompte the Executive Director of Jubilee USA Network and a United Nations finance expert. "We're disappointed not to have a stronger agreement on a permanent debt reduction process, yet, but it's hopeful that the G20 is holding a special meeting on this process in the coming weeks.”

G20 finance ministers will hold a special meeting before G20 presidents and prime ministers meet in November, on a country debt reduction plan or the “Common Framework for Debt Treatments beyond DSSI.” The announcement came as the International Monetary Fund forecast a contraction of 4.4 % for this year in the global economy and a recovery that will be long, uneven and prone to setbacks.

"The only way for some developing countries to have the resources they need to recover from the coronavirus crisis is to have a process that permanently reduces their debts,” stated LeCompte. “Given that some of the greatest increases in poverty and job loss are in these developing countries, the G20 can't afford to wait any longer on moving forward a plan.”

The G20 expressed disappointment at the absence of private creditor participation in the debt suspension initiative.

"The G20 should be doing more to press the private sector on debt relief. It seems since April, the position of the G20 has weakened on private sector participation in debt relief,” noted LeCompte. 

International tax cooperation was also a focus of the G20. The countries had vowed to agree this year to a global plan for taxing digital revenues and ensuring multinationals pay tax, but they now pushed back that timeline to mid-2021.

“Part of the reason we are in this mess, is because countries aren't raising enough revenues. Now revenues are plummeting in many countries because of the pandemic and the G20 must make more progress on global tax solutions,” explained LeCompte. "An immediate way to combat the coronavirus and support developing countries in crisis is to access trillions of dollars in global reserve funds or the Special Drawing Rights. Unfortunately the G20 made little progress on authorizing what could be a lifesaving measure for countries in crisis."

Read Jubilee USA's press release on the IMF's World Economic Outlook and Global Financial Stability reports here. 

IMF Economic Reports: Inequality and Poverty Rising Amidst COVID Crisis

By Zach Conti 

 

Analyzing the economic crisis spurred by the coronavirus, the International Monetary Fund released the Global Financial Stability Report and the 2020 World Economic Outlook Report, "A Long and Difficult Ascent." The economic outlook report projects global economic growth to contract 4.4%.

"While we understand that the IMF wants to look at the crisis with some positivity, the word ascent has little place in this report. It seems that most countries are still descending,” stated Eric LeCompte, the Executive Director of the religious development organization Jubilee USA Network and a United Nations finance expert. “More that 90 million people could enter the ranks of extreme poverty this year and many countries will lose development gains they have made since the 1990s.”

According to the World Economic Outlook Report, income disparities between developed and developing economies is projected to worsen.

"It's not a surprise that the coronavirus economic crisis will worsen inequality and extreme poverty," said LeCompte. "Nearly 90% of all global stimulus was spent in wealthy countries and less than 3% in developing countries."

The IMF cautions that its projections rely on hard to predict public health and economic factors and outcomes could be worse.

The IMF Global Financial Stability report addressed the rising financial needs of developing countries due to the pandemic and rising costs of borrowing.

“Developing countries need their debts cut and access to more aid if they are to survive this crisis,” noted LeCompte.

The G20, IMF and World Bank are meeting this this week on responses to the coronavirus health and economic crisis.

Read the IMF's World Economic Outlook report here.

Read the IMF's Global Financial Stability report here.

IMF Calls for New Global Debt Policies to Confront COVID Financial Crisis

By Zachary Conti

 

IMF head Kristalina Georgieva warned that developing countries could face a second wave of economic crises just as they are recovering from the coronavirus pandemic. "... There is a need to reform the international debt 'architecture' ... to provide speedy and sufficiently deep debt relief to countries that need it, benefitting not only these countries but the system as a whole," wrote Georgieva and other top IMF officials in a Fund blog published Thursday.

 

"The IMF is declaring that global processes and policies must be reformed to address skyrocketing debt levels and countries facing debt crises," shared Eric LeCompte, the Executive Director of the religious development group Jubilee USA and a UN finance expert. "If we had better debt processes in place before the coronavirus struck, we may not have experienced an economic crisis of this magnitude."

 

In addition to international debt policy and process reforms, the Georgieva blog asserts the G20 should continue suspending debt payments for poor countries.

In April, the G20 agreed to the Debt Service Suspension Initiative, a process for the 73 poorest countries to stop paying debts through 2020. The initiative allowed 43 of the poorest countries to free $5.3 billion for health and social spending to respond to the pandemic. Without G20 action, the initiative expires at the end of the year. 

"Unless we move forward additional aid and debt relief, too many countries could see lost decades of development," said LeCompte.

According to the IMF, about half of low-income countries faced severely high debt levels or financial crisis prior to the onslaught of COVID-19.

"Debt relief and aid needs to be increased and expanded to include more developing countries struggling to confront the health and economic impacts of the pandemic," noted LeCompte. "As we reform debt processes and policies to meet this current crisis, we must also strengthen processes to prepare us to combat future financial crises."

Read Georgieva's IMF blog here.