The letters that are most likely to get placed in the newspaper are ones that are written in your own voice. They should respond to a specific article in the newspaper about the economy, global poverty, or the global economic crisis. You can use one of more of these points in your letter or as a jumping off point.
1. It is good that the G-20 recognized that the current crisis has had a disproportionate impact on the most vulnerable people in the world’s poorest countries, and in particular, that the G-20 recognized their ‘collective responsibility’ to mitigate the social impact of the crisis. Helping the poorest is the right thing to do and it is also in our interest.
2. While the extra cash the G-20 announced is desperately needed by developing nations, new loans from the IMF could make things worse without serious reform at the IMF first. The G-20 should not give a blank check to the IMF without requiring serious reforms in the policy advice that the IMF doles out to poor countries.
3. The IMF needs to stop pushing deregulation and it needs to stop limiting the amount poor countries can spend on nurses, doctors, and teachers through overall limits on government spending.
4. The new resources for developing countries announced by the G-20 are all in the form of loans, rather than grants or debt relief. Proposals agreed by the G-20 could create upwards of $1 trillion in new debt for developing nations. Poor nations are being saddled with crushing new debt to pay for a crisis they did not create.
5. For the poorest countries, President Obama and the G-20 should go further and offer support for debt cancellation and encourage grants to developing nations. Debt relief works: relief provided to date has enabled Tanzania to increase the number of children in primary schools by over 50%, build 2,500 additional schools, and recruit thousands of additional teachers.
6. The IMF is sitting atop a massive gold reserve – and sales of an additional 12% of the IMF’s gold reserves could be used to fund $10 billion in poor country debt relief or grants. Gold sales should be used to finance expanded debt cancellation or grants, not new loans that will increase countries’ debt.
7. Now that the G20 summit is over, and the IMF spring meetings are over, Congress will have to approve the agreement to increase funding for the IMF and sell IMF gold. Congress should not give the IMF a blank check. In exchange for funds, Congress should require the IMF stop imposing harmful conditions on poor nations and use some of the proceeds from gold sales to fund expanded poor country debt cancellation and grants. I will be urging my Member of Congress to support IMF reform and gold sales for debt cancellation.
8. The world’s poorest countries are facing a renewed debt crisis while the IMF sits atop a massive pot of gold. At the Spring Meetings the IMF missed a golden opportunity to come to agreement to provide desperately needed debt relief for the world’s poorest countries, instead re-affirming the commitment made by the G-20 to double new lending to poor countries. But it’s not too late: the IMF could use its gold to provide grants and debt relief to poor countries. The IMF must do this before the G-8 summit in July. There are growing calls from key governments, African Finance Ministers and anti-poverty groups to support up to $5 billion in poor country debt relief from the sale of IMF gold.
9. As the US Congress must approve new funds for the IMF in the weeks ahead, Jubilee USA will be urging Congressional leaders to ensure US support is conditioned on using the money from gold sales for debt relief and the removal of harmful economic policy conditions on IMF loans.
10. Jubilee USA has found that the increase in the world price of gold in the past two years means that IMF gold sales could be used to generate $4-5 billion in grants and debt service relief for up to 70 of the world’s poorest countries for the next three years.
