World leaders met for annual IMF, World Bank and G20 meetings. The IMF lowered economic growth projections for all countries, and downgraded United States growth projections for 2021.

"World leaders agree that low vaccination rates in developing countries lead to more COVID variants and economic challenge for all countries,” noted Eric LeCompte who heads the religious development coalition Jubilee USA Network. “The IMF and G20 failed to offer a plan to get vaccinations and sufficient aid to developing countries. The crisis will worsen unless we get this done quickly."

The IMF shared that less than 4% of the population in low-income countries is vaccinated.

In August, the IMF created $650 billion in emergency currency for pandemic response which could help with vaccination distribution. G20 finance ministers are working on ways for wealthy countries to transfer their emergency currency or Special Drawing Rights to poor countries. Wealthy countries hold more than $400 billion in pandemic response funds.

“Wealthy countries should donate, rather than loan, their emergency currency reserves that they cannot use to developing countries,” stated LeCompte. “We support plans for a new IMF fund that can provide long-term loans to middle-income countries, which have been left out of the pandemic response to date.” 

Resiliency and Sustainability Trust can support a number of efforts including combating climate change.

"World leaders were clear at the IMF and G20 meetings that climate change will continue to cause significant economic shocks for countries," stated LeCompte.

The G20 pledged to do more on debt relief through the Common Framework it launched last year in response to the pandemic. The IMF announced an extension of debt payment relief for 24 countries through January 10, 2022. Additional relief may be extended to April 13, 2022, if the IMF's Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust has resources. 

“Debt grew dramatically during the crisis and too many countries are not bringing in enough revenue to combat the pandemic,” added LeCompte. “Developing countries are concerned about their debt and coronavirus recovery as the G20 debt suspension ends and central banks are beginning to consider rate increases.”

Organized by Jubilee USA Network this weekend, more than a hundred organizations and faith communities are organizing G20 petition drives, hosting educational events and dedicating worship services for “Jubilee Weekend: A COVID Response that Shares Medicine, Ends Poverty and Protects our Planet.” Faith communities from Kentucky to Colorado and California to Georgia are calling on the G20 and IMF to provide additional aid and debt cancellation for developing countries to prevent future crises and protect people and planet. Around the world, the Asian Peoples' Movement on Debt and Development (Jubilee Asia Pacific) convened 100 plus global organizations to host actions and events through the end of October.

“The coronavirus already wiped out a decade of development, throwing millions of people into poverty,” stated LeCompte. “Faith and anti-poverty organizations are calling on world leaders to take immediate action on a pandemic response plan that increases aid and support for vulnerable countries.”

Read the list of groups and faith communities participating in "Jubilee Weekend: A COVID Response that Shares Medicine, Ends Poverty and Protects our Planet," here.

Read Jubilee USA's press statement on the IMF and World Bank Development Committee Communiqué here.

Read Jubilee USA's press statement on the International Monetary and Financial Committee Communiqué here.

Read Jubilee USA's press release on the IMF's World Economic Outlook and Global Financial Stability reports here. 

Read Jubilee USA's press statement on the G20 Finance Ministers Meeting here. 

Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of the religious development group Jubilee USA Network and a United Nations finance expert who monitored IMF and World Bank meetings since 2010, releases the following statement on the Development Committee Communiqué and IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings:

"A lack of tax collection means developing countries lack revenue to confront the crisis.

"The World Bank must do more to get resources to countries to combat climate change.

"The Development Committee is pushing for us to be prepared for the next crisis and do more to protect the vulnerable during the pandemic."

Read the Development Committee communiqué here. 

"Given how the pandemic is becoming worse in most of the world's countries, I'm concerned by the lack of action at the meetings on vaccine distribution, debt relief and general pandemic response.

"As world leaders meet, there is a clear consensus that the lack of vaccine access in developing countries leads to more virus mutations and global economic challenges.

"It's baffling that we still don't have plans for the funding and distribution of vaccines to reach all developing countries.

"In the poorest countries, more than 96% of the populations are unvaccinated.

"The creation of $650 billion in emergency currency, or Special Drawing Rights, to fight the pandemic is important.

"Now the focus is finding ways for wealthy countries to transfer their Special Drawing Rights to developing countries.  

"The Resilience and Sustainability Trust is an important vehicle for wealthy countries to share their Special Drawing Rights with developing countries to fight climate change.

"The new trust can provide long-term loans and includes vulnerable developing middle-income countries.

"It's encouraging that transferring Special Drawing Rights to development banks, is still being explored. This option could significantly increase funds for health and other public services. 

"When a growing number of countries need IMF support, charging penalties and surcharges to members with loans is highly concerning. 

"As the G20 debt suspension initiative ends, central banks prepare to raise interest rates. As interest rates rise, the debt crisis worsens in developing countries.

"The meetings failed to deliver details on how countries can reduce debts and how we can ensure that private creditors will participate in debt relief.

"The Common Framework must drastically cut debts as the pandemic worsens in poor countries.

"It's promising that global agreements to curb tax avoidance and evasion are moving forward. The IMF must continue to look as how these tax policies can benefit developing countries.

"Climate and stability of the global economy are closely linked.

"It's clear that climate change is causing economic challenges and shocks for many countries.

"Finance ministers are asking the IMF to do more to tackle economic and financial risks related to climate change."

Read the International Monetary and Financial Committee communiqué here.

Read Jubilee USA's press release on the IMF World Economic Outlook and Global Financial Stability Report here.

Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of the religious development group Jubilee USA Network and a United Nations finance expert who monitored G20 meetings since 2010, releases the following statement on the G20 finance ministers meeting and communiqué:

"New COVID mutations are the biggest risk to the global economy.

"The G20 is failing to take urgent action on financing and distribution of vaccines.

"The August creation of $650 billion in emergency currency, or Special Drawing Rights, provides much needed pandemic relief. 

"The agreement to establish a Resilience and Sustainability Trust at the IMF allows wealthy countries to aid vulnerable middle-income developing countries.

"Donating Special Drawing Rights, rather than lending them, should remain on the table as countries struggle with too much debt.

"It's critical that Special Drawing Rights are transferred from wealthy countries to developing countries.

"Debt levels grew dramatically everywhere and are a major concern in developing countries still struggling with the pandemic. 

"Developing countries are struggling with debt and are incredibly worried as central banks look to increase interest rates.

"The G20 must show that it can deliver on sufficient debt relief for struggling countries.

"The G20 missed an opportunity to set a higher global minimum tax rate and support rules to make sure that developing countries can capture more tax revenue.

"The G20 continues to make strong connections between climate change and financial policies.

"G20 leadership is critical for the climate crisis to be addressed as part of pandemic response."

2021 Growth Projections Downgraded for United States

Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of the religious development group Jubilee USA Network and a United Nations finance expert who monitored IMF meetings since 2010, releases the following statement on the IMF's World Economic Outlook Report:

"What's most striking about the report is that we are looking at economies declining both in wealthy and poor countries.

"Because the pandemic is impacting so many developing economies, advanced economies face supply shortages.

"The lack of access to vaccines in developing countries means that we are experiencing economic shocks in wealthy countries.

"Vaccines are a priority and proactive policies to deal with the global debt and health crises are essential for a return to sustainable economic growth."

Ahead of IMF and G20 meetings, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva delivered a "curtain-raiser" speech focused on debt, vaccines and pandemic response at Bocconi University.

Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of the religious development group Jubilee USA Network and a United Nations finance expert who monitored IMF meetings since 2010, releases the following statement on the Georgieva speech and upcoming meetings:

"High debts, soaring food prices and lack of vaccines are the greatest threats facing developing countries.

"Too many countries cannot combat the pandemic because they aren't bringing in enough revenue and are struggling to pay their debts.

"Georgieva is concerned about food prices. They've gone up by 30 percent. Vulnerable people are losing access to vaccines.

"Georgieva's speech highlights the growing concerns with developing countries not getting enough vaccines.

"We are counting economic losses in the trillions if developing countries can't access vaccines.

"Countries struggling with too much debt and lack of access to vaccines will come back to haunt all of us. All countries can face further economic shocks and new virus variants." 

In January, Jubilee USA capped a decade of advocacy with the passage of the Corporate Transparency Act. The law requires the owners of US companies to disclose their true identities to the Treasury. In June, President Biden elevated the fight against corruption to a national security priority and mandated an inter-agency review to make recommendations.

In a letter to finance ministers, 250 organizations call on wealthy countries to donate IMF emergency currency they don't need to poor countries. In August, the IMF created $650 billion in Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) to support global coronavirus response. More than $400 billion went to wealthy countries and $230 billion went to developing countries.

“Wealthy countries recovering from the pandemic don't need the currency, while poor countries need the aid for vaccinations and the growing amount of people living in poverty,” said Aldo Caliari, one of the letter’s organizers and Senior Director of Policy for religious development organization Jubilee USA Network.

Letter signers said SDR sharing should provide debt-free and unconditional aid. The 250 groups raised concerns about the needs of middle-income developing countries.

“The pandemic revealed all developing countries, no matter their income, are vulnerable,” stated United Nations finance expert and Jubilee USA Executive Director Eric LeCompte. "The worst job losses and poverty increases during this crisis are taking place in developing middle-income countries, which are most of the world's countries," continued LeCompte. "The IMF and G20 need to support more options to get Special Drawing Rights to help these countries."

The letter states SDRs can finance health, education and efforts to protect the environment.

On October 1, Jubilee USA sponsors an event featuring IMF, UN and developing country speakers to discuss pandemic vulnerabilities in middle-income developing countries. On October 4, letter signers present their asks during an event with IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva and Director of the IMF Strategy Policy and Review Department, Ceyla Pazarbasioglu.

Read the CSO letter here.

Watch the Civil Society Policy Forum event "Mapping Pandemic Vulnerabilities in Developing Countries" here.

Watch the Civil Society Policy Forum event "Making the Most of Special Drawing Rights: Approaches to Maximize Impact and Create a Sustainable and Just Recovery" here.

Read Jubilee USA's press release on the creation of Special Drawing Rights here.

Poor countries will lose a decade of development and face slow economic recovery according to United Nations analysis. Developing countries will lose $12 trillion through 2025 because they lack vaccines and the resources that wealthy countries use to stimulate their economies.

“The economic and health crisis is getting worse in most countries,” said Eric LeCompte, a UN finance expert and head of the religious development group Jubilee USA Network. “Developing countries need vaccines and more resources to confront the pandemic. Without more aid, there is little chance that poor countries can meet development goals."

According to the flagship report from the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development, developing country debt increased during the crisis. From 2019 to 2020, developing country debt increased while sales from their exported products fell.

“Debt relief must move more quickly and must include all developing countries mired in this crisis,” noted LeCompte. "Developing countries that are categorized as middle-income countries, face the worst extreme poverty increases and job losses because of the pandemic. Unfortunately, these countries are currently left out of processes to cut their debts."

The G20 agreed to suspend debt payments for 73 of the poorest countries through December and created a process for the same countries to reduce debt. The G20 Common Framework debt relief process excludes most developing middle-income countries.

The report welcomed the August creation of $650 billion in emergency reserve currency, also known as Special Drawing Rights, to fight the pandemic. At the same time, the UN agency warned that the resources fall short of the current needs of developing countries. More than $230 billion of the reserve funds reached developing countries.

The United Nations report concludes that more aid, debt relief and changes to the financial system are needed for most countries.

“After the 2008 financial crisis world leaders worked on crisis resolution tools to make the financial system more stable. Unfortunately, we failed to implement those tools, the tools that may have limited or prevented the current crisis," stated LeCompte. "Now we face a greater economic crisis and we must implement strong crisis resolution tools to help solve the current crisis and prevent the next one."

UNCTAD members meet on October 3-7, hosted by Barbados, to adopt its next four-year work plan.

Read the 2021 UNCTAD report here.

Read Jubilee USA's statement on the creation of Special Drawing Rights here.

“We are seeing significant progress on curbing global corporate tax avoidance,” said Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of the religious development organization Jubilee USA Network. “As new tax agreements move forward, developing countries must be included. Too many countries lack the resources to combat the pandemic because they aren't collecting adequate tax revenue."

Yellen encouraged her G7 counterparts to lend their shares of a recent emergency currency creation of $650 billion for global pandemic response. In August, the International Monetary Fund authorized the emergency response funds known as Special Drawing Rights. G7 countries received more than $280 billion and developing countries received around $230 billion of the emergency currency. Wealthy countries can donate or lend their Special Drawing Rights to developing countries.

“Rich countries don't need their share of emergency pandemic response funds," noted LeCompte who serves on United Nations finance expert groups. “Given the level of suffering in developing countries, wealthy countries should donate their funds instead of lending them to poor countries."

Read Treasury's readout of the G7 meeting here.

Read about the historic $650 billion SDR allocation here.

See Jubilee USA's calculation of the approximate amount each country receives in emergency SDRs currency here.

"More than $230 billion of these funds goes to developing low-income and middle-income countries. The G7 countries will receive more than $280 billion. 

“The G7 and other wealthy countries don't need these reserve funds and should donate them to developing countries for pandemic response."

On Monday, the IMF creates $650 billion of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), the largest IMF emergency currency creation in history in order to fight the pandemic. 

"Most countries are dealing with severe health and economic crises spurred by the coronavirus," noted Eric LeCompte who directs the religious development group Jubilee USA Network. Since March of 2020, Jubilee USA advocated for SDRs and organized 268 organizations to support the IMF action. "From buying food to providing healthcare, developing countries can use these emergency funds to respond to the coronavirus crisis in their own countries."

More than $230 billion of SDRs goes to developing low-income and middle-income countries. The G7 countries will receive more than $280 billion.

“About 40% of all of the emergency currency will be received by seven of the world's wealthiest counties,” explained LeCompte. "The G7 and other wealthy countries don't need these reserve funds and should donate them to developing countries for pandemic response."

Countries can use SDRs to increase government savings, fund programs or donate them to other countries. Based on current publicly available IMF data, Jubilee USA calculated that the United States receives $113 billion and all of Africa receives $33 billion in SDRs.

See Jubilee USA's calculation of the approximate amount each country will receive in emergency SDRs currency here.

Read Jubilee USA's IMF COVID response letter calling for Special Drawing Rights aid with nearly 270 signatories here.

Read the SDR letter signed by 240 global groups organized by Jubilee USA and Latindadd here.

Read Jubilee USA and the US Conference of Catholic Bishops joint letter to the White House on SDRs here.

Read About the March High-Level Treasury Secretary Yellen/Jubilee USA Network Religious Leader roundtable that Included SDRs here.