Talks with G20 on relief for borrowers are reportedly “not advancing at all”
With talks of G20 finance ministers in India stalling on the subject of debt relief, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) has raised the alarm about the plight of developing countries. This follows last week’s UN report about the catastrophic levels of public debt affecting almost half the globe.
G20 representatives met on Monday in Gandhinagar, Gujarat but made little to no progress in discussions about restructuring the debt held by developing nations, AP reported.
“I think the bottom line is, as of [July] 2023, the issue of debt restructuring is really not advancing at all on a scale that is called for and needed,” UNDP administrator Achim Steiner told Reuters, calling the situation a “grave concern.”
Last week, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned that 52 countries had no way to reduce their debt burden and were approaching default. Promoting a UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) report on the growing problem of debt, Guterres said that 3.3 billion people lived in countries that were spending more on interest payments than on health or education.
“This is more than a systemic risk – it’s a systemic failure,” Guterres said last Wednesday.
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