Third World Debt

Debt disaster with no escape

19 October 2020 - by Michael Roberts

The IMF-World Bank semi-annual meeting starts this week. Earlier the IMF kicked off the show with a warning that the poor countries of the world are heading for a catastrophe from the pandemic slump, leading to defaults on the debts that their (...)
The CADTM denounces the G20’s measures on debt

17 October 2020 - by CADTM International

At the time of the WB-IMF annual assemblies held from 12 to 18 October 2020, the G20 Finance Ministers met on Wednesday 14 October to decide on new debt relief measures for the countries of the South. The G20 proved unable to meet the emergency (...)
Series: 1944-2020, 76 years of interference from the World Bank and the IMF (Part 26)

World Bank and IMF: 76 Years is Enough! Abolition!

15 October 2020 - by Eric Toussaint

At a time when the IMF and the World Bank are meeting together from 12 to 18 October 2020, mainly virtually, Eric Toussaint, international spokesperson for the CADTM, makes an assessment of the World Bank and its alter ego the IMF and proposes (...)
Zambia, Debt and Covid-19

28 September 2020 - by Afrodad, JCTR

The pandemic has had a devastating impact on the living conditions of the population of Zambia. Debt relief with private creditor participation is required now to ensure the country can boost its Covid-19 response and support a sustainable (...)
6 months after the official announcements of debt cancellation for the countries of the South: Where do we stand?

18 September 2020 - by Milan Rivié

As they were faced with requests for debt cancellation from several heads of state from countries of the South and social movements at the end of March and in early April, international financial institutions and other creditor groups suggested (...)
World Bank’s rating obsession will negate debt justice

31 August 2020 - by Patrick Bond, Dominic Brown

The international financial system’s reliance upon credit ratings – usually based on dubious premises – needs urgent rethinking. The Covid-19 pandemic is just one of the catastrophes leaving many low-income countries – and soon middle-income (...)
How the Global Financial System Is Hobbling South America’s Response to COVID-19

31 August 2020 - by Nicolás Aguila

This article was originally published on Jacobin and is part of the work currently done by the EReNSEP research team on the Political Economy of COVID-19 Argentina’s public health response to COVID-19 was far better than Jair Bolsonaro’s (...)
Will the G20 cancel the debt of the Southern countries?

17 July 2020 - by Renaud Vivien

On 18 and 19th of July, the G20 Finance Ministers will meet to decide the measures to be taken in response to the Covid-19 crisis. Debt cancellations should be among the urgent measures to free up the funds needed to tackle the crisis. However, (...)
The Global South Needs More Than Just Debt Relief

10 July 2020 - by Benjamin Lemoine, Quentin Deforge

The G20’s plans to postpone 76 emerging countries’ debt repayments are a band-aid on fundamental injustices in the global economy. Rebuilding the Global South after the pandemic will require a complete upending of the international order — and the (...)
Publicity stunt, lies and omission on African debt, Macron bets on the Paris Club

7 July 2020 - by Milan Rivié

On 13th and 15th April 2020, French President Emmanuel Macron drew the world’s attention by calling for a “massive cancellation” of Africa’s debt. A few hours later, the G20 disavowed it by decreeing a suspension of payments of the poorest (...)
How Foreign Debt Undermines Sovereignty: The case of the Global South

1 July 2020 - by Ndongo Samba Sylla

“There is nothing a nation should avoid as much as borrowing money abroad.” So confided Ulysses Grant to Emperor Meiji during his visit to Japan in August of 1879. After giving several examples of nations then enslaved by foreign (...)
Series: 1944-2020, 76 years of interference from the World Bank and the IMF (Part 16)

The debt trap

1 July 2020 - by Eric Toussaint

In 2020, the World Bank (WB) and the IMF are 76 years old. These two international financial institutions (IFI), founded in 1944, are dominated by the USA and a few allied major powers who work to generalize policies that run counter the (...)
Call of peoples, organizations, movements and networks in North Africa and the Middle East/The Arab region – For the cancellation of debts and dropping of the “free trade” agreements

20 May 2020 - by Collective

To address the Corona pandemic and its severe consequences: the need to break with the tools of imperialist domination over our peoples: indebtedness and “free trade” agreements The people of North Africa and the Middle East/The Arab region are (...)
UNCTAD calls for aid plan and hard tackles creditors

15 May 2020 - by Milan Rivié

The coronavirus pandemic has triggered a real economic crisis whose effects will be as severe as they are long-lasting, even more so in the countries of the South. In recent days, the international financial institutions’ announcements to cancel (...)
Along with Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 300 parliamentarians from around the world are writing to the IMF and World Bank to cancel the debt

15 May 2020 - by Collective

Editor’s note : We are publishing a letter sent to the IMF and the World Bank by 300 worldwide parliamentarians. In this letter the 300 parliamentarians call for the “complete debt remission of the International Development Association’s (IDA) (...)
President Macron never intended to cancel African debt

4 May 2020 - by Pauline Imbach

Had we been born yesterday, we would have been tempted to believe that the question of African debt was finally going to be taken seriously. Emmanuel Macron, wielding a magic wand, was about to cancel the continent’s debts, once and for all. Yet, (...)
The Covid-19 pandemic evinces the need to cooperate despite political differences

17 April 2020 - by Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The impact of COVID19 can already be measured and will be assessed in the future by the striking numbers of people infected, the unacceptable numbers of deaths, the unquestionable damages to the world economy, production, trade, employment and (...)
A debt jubilee to tackle the Covid-19 health and economic crisis

9 April 2020 - by Collective

The International CADTM network agrees to sign despite the fact that we are opposed to asking the IMF to “introduce clear guidelines for deciding when a debt becomes unsustainable, and to abide by its self-imposed rule that it will only lend to (...)
COVID-19 and debt in the global south: Protecting the most vulnerable in times of crisis II

2 April 2020 - by Daniel Munevar

This is the second part of a blog series covering the impact of COVID-19 on vulnerable countries in the Global South. [Part 1] analyses the impact of debt burdens on health services. Part 2 discusses how the economic crisis will affect countires (...)
A debt moratorium for Low Income Economies

27 March 2020 - by Eurodad, Daniel Munevar

Eurodad cost assessment of a debt moratorium to tackle the COVID-19 crisis This briefing provides an assessment of the costs and implications of an immediate debt moratorium for 69 countries classified as Lower Income Economies. A moratorium (...)
COVID-19 and debt in the global south: Protecting the most vulnerable in times of crisis I

18 March 2020 - by Daniel Munevar

This is the first part of a blog series covering the impact of COVID-19 on vulnerable countries in the global south. Part 1 analyses the impact of debt burdens on health services. Part 2 discusses the channels different channels of economic (...)
Only a citizen’s audit of SGR debt will unravel public heist of resources

29 February 2020 - by David Calleb Otieno

Early this week, Kenyans woke up to blockbuster like stories of how prices of items and commodities related to the Kenyan Standard Gauge Rail (SGR) project were extremely inflated perhaps explaining why the Kenyan SGR is far much more expensive (...)
Colombo declaration on illegitimate debt

27 February 2020 - by CADTM

We, the participants of the 8th CADTM South Asia meeting from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, as well as from Morocco, Belgium and France assembled at Colombo, Sri Lanka from 18-19 February 2020 resolve to fight against illegitimate debt (...)
Out of service: How public services and human rights are being threatened by the growing debt crisis

25 February 2020 - by Iolanda Fresnillo, Eurodad

Public services play a critical role in advancing human rights and fighting inequality. However, growing levels of external public debt, especially in the global south, threaten the very services on which citizens depend in order to have even a (...)
Debt Against the People: an ABC

29 January 2020 - by Eric Toussaint

Introduction Over the last ten years Greece has been a prime example of how a country and a people can be deprived of their liberty through clearly illegitimate debt. Since the 19th century, from Latin America to China, Haiti, Greece, Tunisia, (...)