Devex Quotes Executive Director Eric LeCompte on Development Finance. Read the full article here. 

Devex Invested: Can development finance fix global inequality?

By Adva Saldinger

An expected outcome document from the 2022 forum is likely to reiterate many of the positions agreed in previous years, particularly around tax, trade, and anti-corruption efforts, along with economic and aid issues, according to Eric LeCompte, the executive director at Jubilee USA Network.

But a draft of the document has a few notable additions, he tells me. The final version is likely to recommend an international summit on development financing in 2024. And the draft has stronger language on debt — saying, for example, that the G-20’s Common Framework for debt treatments should move quickly, with a clear process that includes a debt standstill during negotiations. It also calls for a more comprehensive debt solution and for small island developing states to gain access to concessional finance, particularly through IMF.

Another key issue in the document relates to changing how assessments are made by credit rating agencies, which play a significant role in sovereign funding and addressing mounting indebtedness. Hanif says what’s needed is longer-term thinking in credit ratings, which could help decrease borrowing costs for lower-income countries. And ratings agencies now seem willing to engage, he says.