The logic of debt relief as a response to sovereign insolvency situation has the genuine objective of restoring a debtor’s economic capacity and therefore should be granted to those states that need it. However, official debt relief initiatives have ever since been guided by the logic to limit debt relief to the poorest – from the Toronto terms of the Paris Club limited to the Severily Indebted Low Income Countries to the multilateral Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative.

In April 2020, the G20 finance ministers adopted the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) to support poor countries in fighting the consequences of the corona pandemic. In the tradition of other debt relief initiatives, it is limited to the 73 poorest countries. The focus paper “A debt moratorium – but for whom?” /  “Moratoria de pago: ¿para quién?” examines the logic of in- and exclusion according to income and not debt problems by looking at the two regions Central America and the Caribbean. It discusses whether or not the countries selected by creditors include those states which are actually the most in need of relief and whether the DSSI can be considered an effective response to the pandemic and its triggered recession.

In the webinar, the report and its conclusions will be presented and discussed with views from affected regions, coming to discussing civil society strategies to challenge the exclusionary logic of debt relief.

Agenda and Speakers

3 pm: Introductory remarks – Ilaria Crotti, Eurodad

3:05 pm Presentation of the report – Jürgen Kaiser, erlassjahr.de

3:20 pm: Comments from the Caribbean – Heron Belfon, Co-ordinator Jubilee Caribbean

3:30 pm: Comments from Central America – Georgina Muñoz, Executive Director Red Nicaragüense de Comercio Comunitario (RENICC)

3:40 pm: Questions and discussion

4 pm: End of webinar