Current debt relief efforts, including the G20 Common Framework, are failing due to the lack of mechanisms to compel private lenders to participate. Legislative action in the United Kingdom and New York, two major financial centers, is needed to ensure fair and fast debt restructuring schemes, where private creditors have to share the burden of debt relief.
A quarter of a century ago, tens of thousands of people poured onto the streets of Birmingham and cities around the world to demand the cancellation of the debts that were crushing lower-income countries. The historic international Jubilee 2000 campaign led to the cancellation of more than $100 billion in debt owed by 35 of the world’s poorest countries.
Twenty-five years on, a new global debt crisis is upon us. The COVID-19 pandemic, natural disasters caused by climate change, global conflicts, and rising food and fuel prices have pushed many countries to the edge. The number of lower-income countries in or approaching a debt crisis has more than doubled in the last decade. External debt payments by these countries have increased by over 150% since 2011 to their highest levels since 1998.
About the authors
Rt Hon Liam Byrne MP
Liam Byrne MP chairs the House of Commons Business & Trade Committee and the Parliamentary Network on the World Bank and IMF. He served in Gordon Brown’s cabinet. An honorary professor at the University of Birmingham, his latest book is “The Inequality Of Wealth: Why It Matters And How To Fix It,” published in 2024.
Gustavo Rivera
Gustavo Rivera is a New York state senator and chair of the health committee. He is the lead sponsor of the New York Health Act, a bill to establish a first-in-the-nation state single payer health care system. He was born in Puerto Rico and resides in the Bronx.
