Topic: Finance and debt
Illicit financial flows hinder development in Africa – the UN must rise to the challenge of ending this
Article / 29th January 2021Every year, US$88.6 billion leaves Africa in the form of illicit capital flight according to the 2020 report of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
$427bn lost to tax havens every year: landmark study reveals countries’ losses and worst offenders
Report / 25th November 2020Countries are losing a total of over $427 billion in tax each year to international corporate tax abuse and private tax evasion, costing countries altogether the equivalent of nearly 34 million nurses’ annual salaries every year – or one nurse’s annual salary every second.
UN issues $100m emergency funding and calls for global effort to avert famine
News / 19th November 2020The UN has earmarked $100m (£75m) in emergency funding for seven countries deemed at risk of famine, warning that without immediate action the world could see “huge numbers of children dying on TV screens”.
Over 1,000 health professionals call for G20 to cancel developing countries’ debt
News / 11th November 2020Over 1,000 health professionals from 66 countries have signed a letter urging the G20 to cancel the debt of developing countries, ahead of an extraordinary G20 Finance Ministers meeting.
It’s official, the global economy is a ‘debtor’s prison’
Article / 23rd October 2020As the World Bank and IMF sound the alarm on debts driven sky high by Covid-19 in some of the world’s poorest nations, debt ‘relief’ will not cut it – we need a thoroughgoing transformation of the global economy. By Nick Dearden for the New Internationalist.
In the midst of the pandemic, why is the IMF still pushing austerity on the Global South?
Report / 14th October 2020Despite its own warnings, the International Monetary Fund is risking another ‘lost decade’ for development, reports Soren Ambrose for openDemocracy.
The IMF must immediately stop promoting austerity around the world
News / 7th October 2020More than five hundred of the world’s leading charities, social groups and academics have sent a letter to the International Monetary Fund warning that its support programs are condemning many countries to years of austerity.
Gleneagles 15 years on: The last debt cancellation
Blog / 28th July 2020Last week marked 15 years since the G8 Summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, when leaders of the world’s richest countries agreed debt cancellation for many of the world’s poorest heavily indebted countries.
People in the Global South don’t need debt relief, they need a new system
Article / 7th May 2020Far from being the 'great leveller', COVID-19 has exposed and deepened socio-economic inequalities, writes Meera Karunananthan for openDemocracy.
G20 suspends debt payments for poorest countries
News / 16th April 2020International aid and development organisations stress that suspending debt payments during a major global economic and health emergency may not be enough to fight the crises.