debt cancellation

Responding to the G20 Finance Ministers’ meeting today, Nadia Daar, Head of Oxfam’s Washington DC Office, said: "The G20 is not delivering on its promise to rebalance the global economy and provide major relief. It has simply extended a freeze on bilateral debt-service payments through year-end, pushing the can down the road once again. If debt cancellation is not part of the solution, the world’s poorest countries will continue to struggle to cope with the pandemic and its devastating effects. 
 

Responding to the G20 Heads of State Summit, Rebecca Gowland, Head of Inequality, Campaigns and Policy, said: “In 2020 the richest economies bolstered their resilience to Covid-19 with a $10 trillion injection while providing 2,000 times less than that – $5 billion – in debt relief to the poorest countries. In the direst global health and socio-economic crises for 100 years the G20 has failed to adequately support the poorest people in the world.

Over 1,000 health professionals from 66 countries have signed a letter urging the G20 to cancel the debt of developing countries, ahead of tomorrow’s extraordinary G20 Finance Ministers meeting.

"The failure to cancel debt payments will only delay the tsunami of debt that will engulf many of the world’s poorest countries, leaving them unable to afford the investment in healthcare and social safety nets so desperately needed", said Jaime Atienza, Oxfam International's Debt Policy Lead, in reaction to the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting.

“Today’s lack of progress on debt relief is as irresponsible as it is underwhelming. Merely encouraging private sector creditors and multilateral banks to participate in the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) is woefully inadequate and a dereliction of duty. The G20 is in denial of the scale of response needed to address the worse global crisis in a century," said Jaime Atienza, Oxfam International’s Debt Policy Lead, in response to the communiqué of the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting.

The coronavirus pandemic is fast pushing developing countries toward a debt crisis that would be catastrophic for their fight against poverty, with the likelihood of multi-billion-dollar defaults that will hurt the entire global economy, warned Oxfam ahead of the G20 Finance Ministers’ meeting this weekend (July 18-19).

The coronavirus pandemic has caused widespread suffering in rich countries, overwhelming some of the best healthcare systems in the world. But with the disease now spreading to many countries with high levels of poverty and inequality, its impact could be catastrophic and disproportionally affect women. Urgent action is needed now.

Despite the clear message President Malpass sends on the critical importance of addressing debt, the Bank is the only one to fail to make any commitment on debt relief, said Oxfam today.

Without urgent action to relieve developing countries of all their external debt payments this year, and ensure they don't accrue into the future, the coronavirus could lead to millions of deaths and force half a billion more people around the world into poverty, said Oxfam today in response to the G7's joint statement on debt moratorium for poor countries.

The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) gold holdings have increased in value by $19.3 billion since the start of the global coronavirus pandemic, said Oxfam today.