Finance against people
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The debt of integration: Montenegro’s Chinese loan and the traps of Europe
12 July 2021 - by Tijana Okić
The Balkans debt crisis continues to ravage the economies of the region, with Montenegro vainly turning to the EU for a bailout on multi-billion euro debts to Chinese contractors (Exim bank of China) on what is essentially part of the EU-imposed (…) -
AEPF Statement on Bangladesh Factory Fire
12 July 2021 - by Asia Europe Peoples’ Forum (AEPF)
A food and beverage factory in Bangladesh was engulfed in fire killing at least 52 workers and injuring more than fifty others. The workers were trapped inside the building since the only exit had been locked. This illegal practice to force (…) -
1% own 45% of the world’s personal wealth while nearly 3bn people have little or no wealth at all
24 June 2021 - by Michael Roberts
Just 56m or 1% of adults out of 5.3bn globally are millionaires in net wealth terms. And they own 45% of all global personal wealth. The other 99% own the rest and there are nearly 3bn people in the world that have little or no wealth at all (…) -
The economic response to the crisis benefits large companies
26 May 2021 - by Eric Toussaint, Roberto González Amador
Éric Toussaint is interviewed by Roberto González Amador from the Mexican daily La Jornada. The spokesperson for the international network Committee for the Abolition of Illegitimate Debts (CADTM) argues for an end to patents [1]. The seeds (…) -
Stop blaming the victims of the microfinance crisis!
24 May 2021 - by Amali Wedagedara, Nedha de Silva
The exponential growth of the microfinance industry in Sri Lanka does not correspond with its contribution to reducing poverty. Instead, it has escalated indebtedness among women, pushed them below subsistence and made victims of both personal (…) -
Unmasking the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor
16 May 2021 - by GRAIN
In 2018, China’s biggest agrochemical corporation, Sinochem Group Co, announced that it had conducted field trials of hybrid wheat varieties in 230 locations in Pakistan. Since intellectual property rights prevent farmers from saving hybrid (…) -
Sri Lanka: Microfinance debt trap: Still awaiting reprieve
4 May 2021 - by Maheesha Mudugamuwa
Thousands of innocent villagers, especially in the Northern, Eastern, and North Central Provinces are holding protests to raise a collective cry against the longstanding issues related to the microfinance debt trap that had claimed the lives of (…) -
A grim new year for debt-trapped rural women in Sri Lanka
16 April 2021 - by Meera Srinivasan
M. Champa Irangani is in no mood to celebrate ‘Avurudu’, or New Year, the biggest annual festival that Sri Lanka’s majority Sinhalese community observes mid-April, while Tamils celebrate the Tamil New Year around the same time. “The New Year (…) -
IMF and debt: a new consensus?
16 April 2021 - by Michael Roberts
There is much talk among ‘progressive’ economists that the IMF and the World Bank have turned over a new leaf. Gone are the days of supporting fiscal austerity, demanding that national governments get public debt levels down and insisting on (…) -
Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the 21th Century: an ABC
Neoliberalism: An increasing gap among incomes and tax gifts to Capital
15 April 2021 - by CADTM
Evolution of low and high salaries since the 1960s The May 1968 general strike in France led to a considerable increase in the minimum wage over 15 years We do not have room to sum up the evolution of income inequalities over the last two (…) -
[Press release] World Bank / IMF / G20 Spring Meetings Paltry measures doomed to failure
11 April 2021 - by CADTM International
At the spring meetings of the Bretton Woods institutions from 5 to 11 April 2021, the World Bank, IMF and G20 made new announcements in an attempt to respond to the debt crisis in the countries of the South, exacerbated by the economic and health (…) -
Debt-driven suicides continue unabated in Sri Lanka
3 April 2021 - by Piyumi Fonseka
Sometimes a loan obtained to save a life can end up taking another life, in the debt-stricken villages of Sri Lanka. A 24-year-old mother killed her child and committed suicide two months ago due to her inability to repay a loan of Rs. 400, 000 (…) -
A movement for a moratory on the debt of region affected by Wakashio
2 April 2021 - by Stefan Gua
A movement to demand a moratorium on the debts of households and businesses in the disaster areas of Wakashio. This is the request of Lasanble Solider Mahébourg / lakot Sid-Es. They were some fifteen demonstrators of this collective gathered (…) -
The bitter realities behind the Hingurakgoda satyagraha
2 April 2021 - by Amalini de Sayrah
On International Women’s Day (IWD) 2021, in a small tent located at the Polonnaruwa Raja Sabha Mandapaya, women sat down to begin a satyagraha against the microfinance debt that has crippled rural economies and left them helpless. Current (…) -
Series: Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the 21th Century: an ABC
The evolution of wealth inequalities over the last two centuries
1 April 2021 - by CADTM
In France just before the Revolution of 1789, the proportion of national wealth held by the top 10 percent was about 90 percent, and the fraction possessed by the top 1 percent was as much as 60 percent. After the Revolution, the proportion held (…) -
Series: Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the 21st century: an ABC
Concentration of wealth in the hands of the 1%
29 March 2021 - by CADTM
Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century [1] is an indispensable book for anyone interested in learning more about the unequal distribution of wealth in the world today. As I read this major 950-page study, which is supplemented by a large (…) -
[Video] « SYSTÅM DËBT - How to become a wealthy creditor! »
24 March 2021 - by CADTM, ZinTV, Entraide et Fraternité
In this video with subtitles in 4 languages (FR, NL, EN, ES), ZIN TV, Entraide et Fraternité and the CADTM offer you their explanation of the “debt system” in the form of a tutorial cynically addressed to capital holders who benefit from this (…) -
Thomas Piketty and Karl Marx: Two totally different visions of Capital
9 March 2021 - by Eric Toussaint
In his book Capital in the Twenty-First Century, Thomas Piketty has gathered his data meticulously and provided a useful analysis of the unequal distribution of wealth and income, yet some of his definitions are somewhat confusing and even (…) -
India: from loans to credit since 4000 years and the existence banks for 2500 years
24 February 2021 - by Eric Toussaint, Sushovan Dhar
The first credit in India dates back 4000 years. The existence of loans is proved to exist during the Vedic period, which is between 2000 and 1400 BC. The existence of banks in India dates back to 500 BC. A treatise on the art of politics of (…) -
Development or Underdevelopment?
4 February 2021 - by Amali Wedagedara
The Sri Lankan economy revealed a principal contradiction during the last two weeks. The Colombo Stock Market was becoming one of the best performing stock markets in the world. In parallel, the real Sri Lankan economy is collapsing. A suicide of (…) -
Planting budgetary time bombs in Africa: the Macron Doctrine En Marche
14 January 2021 - by Ndongo Samba Sylla, Daniela Gabor
‘A French Jeremy Corbyn, and in power!’ you’d think after reading the first few paragraphs of Macron’s recent interview in Le Grand Continent. He condemns the Washington Consensus, the paradigm of ‘less state intervention, privatisations, (…) -
IMF’s continued VAT push inconsistent with rhetoric on progressive taxes
6 January 2021 - by Bretton Woods Project
Summary – IMF backs regressive VAT despite progressive tax rhetoric in pandemic response – Broader tax trends steadily shift burdens to women and those least able to pay In September, the IMF hosted the first of a series of webinars (…) -
World Bank: Investigate Cambodia’s Micro-Loans
5 January 2021 - by Human Rights Watch
The World Bank Group should investigate alleged coerced land sales and other rights abuses linked to predatory lending and over-indebtedness in the micro-loan sector, Human Rights Watch said today. These longstanding problems have worsened during (…) -
11 questions / 11 answers about the new global debt crisis and how it can be radically reduced
29 December 2020 - by Eric Toussaint, Olivier Bonfond, Mats Lucia Bayer
Introduction: The current crisis is the most severe since 1929. It is a multi-dimensional crisis of capitalism as it affects simultaneously democracy, health, the economy, climate, environment and social rights. The current health crisis (…) -
What do FTAs mean for African women? A critical look into the African Continental Free Trade Area
15 December 2020 - by GRAIN
The recently ratified African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) looms over Africa. An initiative of the African Union, this mega free trade deal aims to consolidate African markets, boost trade between African countries, and ultimately (…)
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