Topic: Finance and debt
African countries grapple with 50 years of IMF austerity
Report / 12th October 2023ActionAid's latest report, 'Fifty Years of Failure: the IMF, Debt, and Austerity in Africa,' sheds light on the ongoing challenges African countries face due to the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) austerity policies, writes Winston Mwale.
Faced with crushing debts, world’s poorest nations to slash public spending by over 229 billion dollars
Blog / 12th October 2023The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are returning to Africa, for the first time in decades, with the “same old failed message”.
Global South countries need a new legal framework for debt relief
Article / 29th August 2023Global South countries need a forum where they can collaborate to solve urgent problems on debt rather than begging the IMF and G20 for relief, writes Ramya Vijaya and Pooja Rangaprasad.
Forcing poor nations to prioritise debt payments over social investments is a 'disaster,' says UN chief
News / 19th July 2023United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has warned that "half our world is sinking into a development disaster, fueled by a crushing debt crisis," and called for urgent fiscal relief.
165 million people fell into poverty in 3 years of crisis
News / 19th July 2023The Covid-19 pandemic, the cost-of-living crisis and the war in Ukraine have pushed 165 million people into poverty since 2020, reports the United Nations, calling for a pause in debt repayments for developing countries.
‘Crushing’ debt crisis spells development disaster for billions
News / 13th July 2023Half of humanity lives in countries that are forced to spend more on servicing their debt than on health and education, which is nothing less than a development disaster, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said.
Cancel the debt now to deliver climate justice
Blog / 27th June 2023Global South countries spend 5 times more on repaying debt than addressing the climate crisis. With 160 days to go before COP28, activists are calling on rich countries to 'Cancel The Debt for Climate Justice'.
Global North governments can redirect trillions in fossil, debt, and super-rich harms to fix global crises
Article / 20th June 2023A letter from policy experts calls on Global North leaders to put real global financial system transformation on the agenda, starting by redirecting funds from fossil fuels, unfair colonial debts, and the super-rich.
NGOs call out climate injustice and urge global donors to fully fund the humanitarian response in the Horn of Africa now
Article / 9th June 2023Aid agencies call on global donors to address the impact of climate change by making financial pledges required to fully fund the humanitarian response in the Sahel region.
Africa now squeezed to the bones
Blog / 27th April 2023As many as 45 African countries have been further squeezed to their bones as funding shrinks to lowest ever levels, and as a portion of the so-called aid goes back to the pockets of rich donor countries.