The NGO ONE, which campaigns against extreme poverty, welcomed, on Wednesday 15 April, the decision of the G20 Finance Ministers to immediately suspend, for 12 months, the debt service of the poorest countries, as “a vital first step” (see EUROPE 12467/20).
According to ONE, this “will enable those countries to prioritise fighting COVID-19 and to withstand the first wave economic impact of this global pandemic”.
The NGO is now calling for this decision to be extended to the whole of Africa and for a longer-term debt restructuring plan to be included.
“As Africa faces the danger of slipping into a new debt crisis, we strongly urge the G20 to not only extend the debt suspension agreement to the poorest countries, but also every country in Africa through 2021. Many that are not included - South Africa, Egypt and others – face tremendous economic pressure as they fight the virus”, says Edwin Ikhouria, Africa Executive Director of ONE.
A report by ONE shows that the poorest countries owe at least 41 billion dollars in debt service in 2020 and that 64 countries - 30 of them in sub-Saharan Africa - spend more on repaying public debt than investment on public health.
Link to the report: https://go.aws/2VbBAr6 (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)