Growing debt is a matter of great concern for the poor nations across the globe. With least resources and access to modern technology and infrastructure, they are compelled to rely on the foreign loans on harsh conditionalities to run their day-to-day business. Pandemics, diseases, internal feuds, and lawlessness further exacerbate the situation, which was very rightly explained by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, while addressing the 5th United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC) in Doha. He censured the world’s rich countries and energy giants for throttling poor nations with “predatory” interest rates and crippling fuel prices. He urged the rich countries to provide 500 billion dollars a year to help others “trapped in vicious cycles” that block efforts to boost economies and vital services.
The UN Chief further remarked that “economic development is challenging when countries are starved for resources, drowning in debt, and still struggling with the historic injustice of an unequal COVID-19 response. It may be recalled that the Least Developed Countries have complained that they did not get a fair share of the anti-Covid vaccines that went mainly to North America and Europe.
Combatting climate catastrophe that you did nothing to cause is challenging when the cost of capital is sky-high” and the financial help received “is a drop in the bucket”, said Antonio Guterres. “Fossil fuel giants are raking in huge profits, while millions in your countries cannot put food on the table.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the poorest nations were being left behind in the “digital revolution” and the Ukraine war had fueled their food and fuel prices.
Talking of broken promises, he said our global financial system was designed by wealthy countries, largely to their benefit. He said wealthy nations had failed to keep a promise to give 0.15-0.20 percent of their Gross National Income to LDCs.
The situation is worsening further with the reports that six LDCs are classified as suffering from the debt burden while 17 are at high risk of debt distress. There will be more distress, and humanity will suffer if well-off nations do not divert a certain share of their resources to help the poor people in the world. International financial architecture needs to be reformed to make it people-centric to overcome the issues of hunger, poverty, disease, climate change, civil wars, etc.
It is also an irony that no leader from the developed nations with strong economies bothered the LDC conference in Doha.
