The economic turmoil caused by coronavirus is pushing indebted countries deeper into crisis.
While millions of us are struggling to cope with coronavirus, the economic and health impacts could spell disaster for countries in the global south. The cost of borrowing has gone up dramatically, and they are getting less money for products like copper and coffee, on which their economies depend. Lower-income countries are due to spend $40 billion on debt payments in 2020 alone.
All at a time when countries need to be ploughing every spare penny into their health systems.
Throughout the year, international meetings of world leaders and finance ministers are given the opportunity to protect some of the world’s least well-off countries, by agreeing a new deal for debt cancellation.
But that will only happen if we call on them to act.
The UK has a lot of influence at these meetings. We’re calling on the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak to lead the call for debt cancellation.
