As they were faced with requests for debt cancellation from several heads of state from countries of the South and social movements at the end of March and in early April, international financial institutions and other creditor groups suggested various initiatives to provide financial resources that are indispensable in times of health and economic crisis. Six months after they were launched, what has been achieved? Do these measures respond to the urgency of the situation and the needs of (...)
Debts
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6 months after the official announcements of debt cancellation for the countries of the South: Where do we stand?
18 September 2020, by Milan Rivié -
UNCTAD calls for aid plan and hard tackles Paris Club
15 May 2020, by Milan RiviéThe coronavirus pandemic has triggered a real economic crisis whose effects will be as severe as they are long-lasting, even more so in the countries of the South. In recent days, the international financial institutions’ announcements to cancel their public foreign debt have multiplied. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has been more disappointing than ever, criticizing them severely in its latest report published on 23 April 2020 and calling for a massive aid (...)
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Cephas Lumina: “The Paris Club has no legitimacy”
17 March 2016, by Cephas LuminaSeveral members of the Greek Debt Truth Committee (GDTC) attended the session on 1st March 2016 at the European Parliament in Brussels on the topic “Restructuring of debt – reconstruction of democracy”.
The session was organized by Nikolaos Chountis, Vice-minister of the first Tsipras government (January-July 2015) and MEP representing Popular Unity since September 2015, replacing Manolis Glezos. The conclusions of the GDTC’s report enabled the participants to throw new light on the diktats (...) -
No Need to Negotiate with Vulture Funds
29 February 2016, by Renaud VivienSince his victory in the November elections, the new President of Argentina, Mauricio Macri, has given priority to resolving the dispute between his country and “vulture funds” – investment funds that buy up heavily marked-down sovereign debt from hard-up States then instigate legal actions with the sole aim of making colossal profits. 1600% was the increase in value that a New York judge saw fit to demand of the people of Argentina in 2012. It is on the basis of this judgement, dubbed “the (...)
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Reform of the IMF lending framework: The IMF bails out from bailouts
2 February 2016, by Bodo EllmersThe International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a new reform of its exceptional access framework. The key step made on 29 January 2016 is to remove the systemic exemption clause. This is the clause that has made IMF participation in the mega bailout of private creditors in Greece possible. It created the situation that Greece is now indebted mainly to official creditors, while banks and other creditors have recovered most of their money. However, the reform is no guarantee that publicly (...)
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Cuba: What lies beneath the agreements on the debt with the Paris Club and other creditors?
11 January 2016, by Daniel MunevarLast December, Cuba reached a historic agreement with the Paris Club to restructure its debt, following the default of the Caribbean island in 1986. According to the group of creditors, Cuba’s debt totalled 11 billion dollars in 2015, including charges accumulated through interest and penalties following default. The terms of the agreement provide that the Paris Club must write off the interest accumulated, totalling 8,500 billion dollars. Cuba, for its part agreed, to pay 2.6 billion (...)
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IMF in Ukraine: shock therapy in times of armed conflict
10 December 2015, by Tiago StichelmansUkraine has been forced by the IMF to adopt extremely harsh austerity measures in order to pay back its lenders.
Last week, the IMF announced that the disbursement of the third tranche, or portion, of the IMF programme in Ukraine was dependent on the adoption by Ukrainian authorities of the 2016 budget and a tax reform agreed as part of the IMF bailout. This budget must contain austerity measures additional to previous ones imposed by the IMF in a country suffering from political and (...) -
The UN’s work towards faster and better resolution of debt crises: a tale of legal frameworks and basic principles for debt restructurings
9 December 2015, by Bodo EllmersThis article was originally published on Eurodad member SLUG’s website.
To date, there are no international institutions that are in a position to resolve debt crises in a fair, orderly and sustainable manner. This is a problem that has been identified at numerous UN Summits and high-level meetings, but has never really been resolved by the international community. Expectations were therefore high when, in late 2014, the UN General Assembly finally adopted a landmark resolution and set up a (...) -
Joint CSO letter to the Ambassadors of European nations at the United Nations, New York
10 September 2015Upcoming vote on UN GA Resolution “Basic Principles on Sovereign Debt Restructuring Processes” (A/69/L.84)
Dear Ambassador,
On September 10th the international community must take an important step towards better prevention and resolution of sovereign debt crises. Adoption of the UN General Assembly Resolution “Basic Principles on Sovereign Debt Restructuring Processes” would be a milestone towards ensuring that debt crises can be tackled in a timely, orderly, effective and fair manner. As a (...) -
Q and A with UNCTAD’s Richard Kozul-Wright on a new Roadmap and Guide for debt restructurings
28 May 2015, by EurodadThis month Eurodad interviewed Richard Kozul-Wright, director of UNCTAD’s Globalisation and Development Strategies Division, on the UNCTAD’s new Roadmap and Guide for Sovereign Debt Workouts.
Why did the UNCTAD develop this Roadmap and Guide and why now?
We have a long history of thinking about this issue, starting with the previous crisis in Latin America in the 1980s. Five to six years ago a group of experts, working with UNCTAD staff, began fashioning a set of principles for responsible (...)