2023-07-14 06:38:46
July 14, 2023 Today at 08:38
The UN calls for a “pause” of debt repayments for developing countries in order to reverse the trend of increasing poverty.
The recent crises, from Covid-19 to the soaring cost of living, have pushed 165 million people into poverty since 2020. Due to the cumulative impact of these shocks, 75 million people will have fallen intoextreme poverty (less than $2.15 a day) between 2020 and the end of 2023 and 90 million more below the poverty line of $3.65 a day, according to projections by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
“Countries that have been able to invest in protective measures over the past three years have saved a number of people from falling into poverty,” UNDP chief Achim Steiner said in a statement. But “in highly indebted countries, there is a correlation between high level of debtinsufficient social spending and an alarming rise in poverty rates“, he insisted.
UNDP is thus calling for a “pause” of debt repayments in these countries, which are forced to choose between paying off their debt and helping their people.
It is an “obsolete system, which reflects the colonial dynamics of the time it was created”.
Anthony Guterres
UN Secretary General
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An “obsolete” system
According to another UN report published on Wednesday, some 3.3 billion people, nearly half of humanity, live in countries that spend more in payment of debt interest than for education or health.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who constantly calls for a reform of international financial institutions, denounced again this week an “obsolete system, which reflects the colonial dynamics of the time when it was created”.
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