Home
Many countries in the Global South take out loans from abroad. This is not a bad thing in itself, as they can use the money to invest in their infrastructure, for example, and thus improve the performance of the economy as a whole.
However, debt can also become a problem: Namely when debt servicing jeopardizes human rights. A high level of foreign debt forces many countries in the Global South to use large parts of their already low government revenue to pay interest and repayments to foreign countries. Money that would be urgently needed to finance poverty reduction, education, the healthcare system or sustainability programs. In 2024, the debt service for countries in the Global South was higher than ever before. Debt relief is urgently needed.
However, there is hardly any room for this in the current system: creditors, often states or private financial institutions from the Global North, dominate the international debt architecture and far too often insist on their right to repayment. It is therefore high time for a fair and transparent sovereign insolvency procedure in which indebted states have a seat at the negotiating table and can assert their rights.
News
-
Debt sustainability under scrutiny: the blind spots in the new IMF programme for Ukraine
While Washington debates global financial stability next week during the IMF and World Bank Spring meetings, the failure of the previous Ukraine debt strategy is becoming apparent in the shadow of the new IMF Ukraine program. The IMF's Resignation: One Billion Dollars a Year for Pre-War Investors In February 2026,…
Mehr lesen ... -
Rights instead of Deals! Speech at the climate strike on World Day of Social Justice
On February 20, to mark the World Day of Social Justice, erlassjahr.de/Jubilee Germany joined the climate strike in Düsseldorf mobilized by Fridays for Future. Our colleague Malina Stutz gave a speech about debt and climate justice, and the need for a rights-based international financial order. Here is the translated version…
Mehr lesen ...
