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New Focus Paper: Participation of Multilateral Development Banks in Debt Relief
Since April 2020, the members of the G20 and the Paris Club have granted up to 73 of the poorest countries a debt moratorium aimed at creating fiscal scope to facilitate combating the COVID-19 pandemic. Since November 2020, a debate has been ongoing over whether to grant real debt relief…
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Out now: Global Sovereign Debt Monitor 2021
The coronavirus pandemic has further exacerbated the debt crisis in the Global South. Countries with low to middle incomes, whose economies were already unstable, are the most affected of all by the effects of recession, and their debt servicing ability has been substantially weakened. Download the full report here. At…
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New educational material on sovereign debt and climate change
As part of our 2020 campaign "Climate justice needs debt relief", erlassjahr.de produced four new educational activities on the complex topic of sovereign debt and climate change, targeted at pupils in secondary education (age 16 to 19). The activities complement the brochure "Debt crises affect people" (activities 1-12), published in…
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New focus papers on DSSI and IMF forecasts out now
Focus paper 3: "A debt moratorium for whom?" Given that the G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) currently is more or less the only group-wise debt relief initiative in the COVID19-context, and given that one of its most important limitations so far has not been resolved, which is the…
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Global Week of Action for Debt Cancellation – A Call to Action
The multiple crises of the COVID-19 pandemic, the intensified economic recession, and the climate emergency has spotlighted the urgency for raising the calls for debt cancellation and addressing unsustainable and illegitimate debt. In this context, many movements, organizations and citizens groups are coming together for a Global Week of Action…
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New Campaign: Climate Justice Needs Debt Relief
+++ The campaign ended in December 2020. Thanks to everyone who participated! We promise: We will keep climate justice on our agenda! +++ Hurricane Maria swept across the Caribbean island of Dominica in 2017, completely devastating it. It was a natural, but also a financial disaster for the island nation,…
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Global Sovereign Debt Monitor 2020
The global debt crisis is gripping more and more countries in the Global South. It is threatening the livelihoods of millions of people. At the same time, many over-indebted countries are suffering massively from the impacts of climate change. Bone crushing debt servicing is hampering urgently needed adaptation measures. Download…
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Focus Paper: Action, not obstruction!
The erlassjahr.de 2018 Global Sovereign Debt Monitor showed that the global debt crisis has arrived. For more than a year now, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has also been ringing alarm bells. Unlike past debt crises, these alarm signals are not being ignored or denied by representatives of public and…
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Global Sovereign Debt Monitor 2019
Currently, 122 out of 154 countries examined are critically in debt, just under 80 per cent. The situation is particularly alarming in Bhutan, Mongolia, Gambia, Cape Verde Islands, Jamaica, Bahrain and Lebanon. In almost three-quarters of the 122 critically indebted countries, the majority of debt indicators has worsened over the…
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Arguments against a Sovereign Debt Workout Mechanism
In most countries, if a person or a company is not able to repay its debt, national insolvency laws settle how much the creditors are entitled to. If necessary, the court decides this question - the judge of course has to be impartial. This is not only fair to everyone…
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