The Jubilee Blog

IMF and World Bank Meetings Focus on Ukraine War, Pandemic, Food Prices and Climate

Development Group says IMF Meetings Failed on Critical Decisions. 

Ukraine War Derails Release of IMF and G20 Communiques

Washington DC – World leaders attending the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings failed to agree on communiques usually issues during these meetings. On Wednesday, G20 finance ministers failed to release a communiqué over Ukraine wording. On Thursday, the International Monetary and Financial Committee failed to release their communiqué and as of the writing of this article, the Development Committee did not release their customary Friday communiqué.

The war in Ukraine loomed large at the meetings, as the Fund forecast it will cut almost an entire percentage point to global economic growth this year. Talks addressed COVID response and recovery, food prices, inflation, debt crises and climate.

“Before the shocks from the Ukraine war, developing countries faced a series of crises,” said Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of the religious development group Jubilee USA Network. “Another casualty of the war is that world leaders can’t fully focus on pandemic response, inflation, climate change and rising poverty rates.”

The shock threatens a fragile pandemic recovery, with more than 100 countries not on track to vaccinate 70% of their people. Rising food and fuel price inflation will add to the 100 million people that fell into poverty since the pandemic.

“Developing countries now have little room to protect their most vulnerable from rising food prices,” added LeCompte. "The pandemic and the Ukraine war are making food, fuel and fertilizer inaccessible to many developing countries."

In the face of war impacts and rising interest rates, a growing number of countries face debt defaults. Three countries applied to the G20 debt reduction process set up in late 2020, and none of them has received relief.

“The discussion on debt remains perhaps the most difficult in the G20,” shared LeCompte. “The IMF and World Bank leadership put forward valuable and practical proposals to move forward debt relief, but no decisions were made on the proposals.”

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva announced that twelve countries made pledges worth $40 billion in their share of emergency currency funds or Special Drawing Rights – to help developing countries. The Resilience and Sustainability Trust, approved by the IMF last week, will administer the contributions and disbursements to developing countries.

“The IMF trust is an example of how wealthy countries can aid developing countries in pandemic prevention and dealing with the impacts of climate change,” stated LeCompte. "Unfortunately, the meetings failed to make decisions on vaccine distribution and economic aid for struggling developing countries."

At the meetings, the World Bank gained G20 backing to set up a new fund for pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.

IMF Head: Ukraine War, Pandemic Worse, Debt, Food Security

By Nadia Khan, Communications Associate

IMF Head Raises Global Challenges Ahead of World Leader Meetings in "Curtain Raiser" Speech

Washington, DC – The war in Ukraine will add to the pandemic crises that most countries are struggling with and lengthen the recovery in developing countries, said International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Kristalina Georgieva. In her curtain-raiser speech, ahead of next week’s IMF and World Bank meetings, she shared that the IMF projects more than 140 countries face worse prospects in the coming months.

“As incomes drop and the cost of living rises, poverty increases,” stated Jubilee USA Executive Director Eric LeCompte who has monitored IMF policies for more than a decade. “With the challenges of the pandemic, poverty increases and it will be harder to lift people out of poverty.”

Georgieva called for improvements to the G20 Common Framework – a debt restructuring process the group set up a year and a half ago. Up to 73 countries are eligible to seek relief but only three requested relief so far. Ethiopia, Zambia and Chad, who applied for the framework, have not yet received any debt reduction from the G20 process. More than 60% of developing low-income countries face debt crisis.

“If the tools for debt crisis resolution are not functioning, developing countries will delay requesting help from processes," noted LeCompte who is a United Nations finance expert.

In a separate statement today Georgieva shared calculations that for every percentage point that food prices go up, 10 million more people fall in poverty.

“The challenge of food insecurity and the potential for social unrest is a frightening part of the current IMF diagnosis.” added LeCompte.

View Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva's Spring IMF Meetings Curtain Raiser Speech here.

IMF Sets Up New Pandemic and Climate Aid Instrument

By Nadia Khan, Communications Associate

Tool Accepts Donations of Special Drawing Rights Aid

Washington DC – The IMF Board of Directors established a new fund to aid developing countries with long-term pandemic and climate challenges. The Resilience and Sustainability Trust (RST) offers low-cost loans to developing countries with emergency currency or Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) that wealthy countries will contribute.

“The new trust provides an important way for wealthy countries to support developing countries struggling with the impacts of crises spurred by the pandemic and climate change,” said Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of religious development group Jubilee USA Network and a United Nations finance expert. “With the growing challenges that developing countries face and new global shocks from the war in Ukraine, we need more tools like this trust.

In August the IMF created $650 billion SDRs. Due to IMF rules, about $230 billion went to developing countries and more than $400 billion went to developed countries. The RST is a process that enables wealthy countries use their SDRs to aid developing countries. Countries can also pledge SDR funding to the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust, a fund that lends at a zero interest rate but supports only the poorest countries.

“The decision to allow developing middle-income countries to access the new trust recognizes the significant difficulties these countries face,” added LeCompte.

The Fund seeks to mobilize $45 billion for the RST in the coming months. The G20 continue discussions on how to channel SDRs through development banks.

“The new trust is a start, but we will need additional ways to donate Special Drawing Rights to developing countries that struggle to meet development goals and deal with health crises," stated LeCompte.

Read IMF Managing Director's full statement on the creation of the RST here.

 

Yellen: IMF Needs Overhaul to Fight New Global Crises

By Nadia Khan, Communications Associate

April 13, 2022

Washington DC – The IMF needs more tools to fight modern, potentially more frequent global crises, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen argued in a speech to the Atlantic Council.

“Health, climate and development challenges are creating worse economic shocks and leading to crises that are harder to solve," said Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of the religious development group Jubilee USA Network. “In the face of crisis, countries with more resources can act forcefully while poor countries get left behind."

Yellen’s speech comes days before she joins world leaders for G20 and World Bank/IMF meetings focused on developing countries struggling with debt, vaccine access and climate change. The Ukraine war brings a new shock to the global economy that leaders will discuss. Recently, IMF staff warned that 60% of poor countries are facing debt crisis or economic instability.

“The Ukraine war adds to the dramatic debt challenges in countries that already struggled with the pandemic,” added LeCompte. “It's clear that we need stronger and more efficient tools to solve economic crises.”

Yellen addressed international tax, trade, climate finance, health and pandemic preparedness reforms to modernize global financial institutions so they are fit to face global 21st century challenges.

Read Yellen's full speech here.

Read Eric LeCompte commentary in Barron's on Ukraine's debt and the lack of global financial crisis tools here.

Devex Quotes Eric LeCompte on Development Finance

By Nadia Khan, Communications Associate

Devex Quotes Executive Director Eric LeCompte on Development Finance. Read the full article here. 

Devex Invested: Can development finance fix global inequality?

By Adva Saldinger

An expected outcome document from the 2022 forum is likely to reiterate many of the positions agreed in previous years, particularly around tax, trade, and anti-corruption efforts, along with economic and aid issues, according to Eric LeCompte, the executive director at Jubilee USA Network.

But a draft of the document has a few notable additions, he tells me. The final version is likely to recommend an international summit on development financing in 2024. And the draft has stronger language on debt — saying, for example, that the G-20’s Common Framework for debt treatments should move quickly, with a clear process that includes a debt standstill during negotiations. It also calls for a more comprehensive debt solution and for small island developing states to gain access to concessional finance, particularly through IMF.

Another key issue in the document relates to changing how assessments are made by credit rating agencies, which play a significant role in sovereign funding and addressing mounting indebtedness. Hanif says what’s needed is longer-term thinking in credit ratings, which could help decrease borrowing costs for lower-income countries. And ratings agencies now seem willing to engage, he says.

National Catholic Reporter Quotes Eric LeCompte on Pope Francis' Speech in Malta

By Nadia Khan, Communications Associate

National Catholic Reporter quotes Executive Director Eric LeCompte on Pope Francis' speech in Malta. Read the full article here. 

In Malta, Pope Francis criticizes those responsible for Ukraine war, forced migration

By Christopher White

Eric LeCompte, executive director of Jubilee USA Network, an interfaith organization advocating for debt relief for developing countries, said that Malta “has a long history of financial secrecy and has served as a tax haven and home of money laundering and facilitator of terrorist financing.”

"Whenever Pope Francis travels, he puts financial secrecy and corruption in his cross hairs,” LeCompte told NCR. 

“Knowing that secrecy and corruption harms the poor and society, he speaks explicitly about these problems," he said, adding that "the island has implemented many reforms and soon global authorities may remove it from the list of notorious countries that launder money.”