Next Week World Leaders Gather for Annual IMF, World Bank and G20 Meetings

Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of Jubilee USA, was recently featured in Presbyterian News Service speaking on the Jubilee Year. Read an excerpt below or full article here.

Presbyterian Advocacy Hour Focuses on Season of Creation and Debt Relief for Developing Countries

Online Program Highlights Need to Protect the Environment and Make Global Financial Reforms

By: Darla Carter 

”The second speaker was LeCompte, who highlighted Jubilee 2025 campaigns calling for debt justice and financial reforms for communities burdened by unsustainable debt.

LeCompte stressed the importance of faith-based support and urged Presbyterians to go to the network’s website to find the Jubilee 2025 petition, which individuals and organizations can sign to join the call for debt forgiveness for struggling communities.

“It's a vital time right now to be contacting members of Congress to say support global debt relief accountability legislation and accountability mechanisms for the IMF,” said LeCompte, referring to the International Monetary Fund. “We'd encourage people to go to our website, Jubilee usa.org, and there you'll find a petition that over 200 faith-based organizations are moving around the world.”

LeCompte explained that the debt crisis is intertwined with issues related to climate change and to countries’ ability to provide for social services.

He noted that “when a country is in crisis, they're going to exploit whatever resources they have,” and “when we take gas, oil and coal out of the ground" and massive deforestation occurs, "it has a cyclical impact, so not only are those countries being exploited for these resources, it's also driving up the challenges of climate change as well as taking away one of our most precious resources, which are older trees and older plants, which can absorb CO2 emissions.”

He also provided historical perspective, noting that “the vast amount of industrialization and growth in the north that took place, starting in the 1800s by stealing resources from developing countries in the south, consuming them for the past several 100 years in the north, not only spurred climate change, but also created a greater debt for the south,” and “countries were unprepared to deal with climate mitigation and adaptation.”

Turning to a different question, LeCompte  expressed concerns about funding cuts, such as those involving the United States Agency for International Development, that he said are negatively affecting health care and other services.

“That health crisis not only will impact economies, but it will also create additional expenses for countries to be able to overcome,” he said.

Furthermore, “we've seen pretty much every major religious body that we work with be impacted from those kinds of cuts” if they relied on such funding to provide services abroad. “The cuts make the crises more extreme.’”

Eric LeCompte, Jubilee USA Network's Executive Director, was recently featured in US Catholic, discussing Jubilee's scriptural roots, the impact of Jubilee 2000 and the US role in global debt relief. Read an excerpt below or the full article here.

What does the Jubilee have to do with debt justice?

During the Jubilee Year of Hope, activists across the globe are reviving an ancient vision of debt forgiveness.

By: Cassidy Klein

"Today, 3.3 billion people live in countries that spend more servicing their debts than on health care, education, and other social services combined. “Debt relief is one of the most accountable forms of aid,” LeCompte says. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, LeCompte says, the debt crisis is becoming worse in developing countries. “[During the pandemic], we saw hundreds of millions of people, mostly women and children, get pushed into poverty,” he says.

After the 2008 financial crisis, private creditors such as BlackRock began frequently lending to countries in the global South. The IMF and World Bank are multilaterals, meaning they have some level of transparency around lending, but private creditors do not. About half of these private creditors are regulated by the state of New York, and the other half are regulated by the United Kingdom. “The UK and the state of New York are uniquely responsible for the rules around which private creditors lend to whole countries,” Dettloff says.

Today, more than 50 percent of external debt in many developing countries is held by private creditors, private firms, and corporations, “including some very challenging groups, the so-called vulture funds or predatory hedge funds,” LeCompte says. The United States also has a significant role among multilateral lenders such as the IMF. The United States is the largest shareholder in the IMF—which Jubilee USA considers the most powerful institution after the White House, LeCompte says—so it gets the most votes and makes a lot of decisions around debt and the international financial system.

Jubilee USA is involved in campaigning and working on policies around debt cancelation, including legislation in New York. This year, Debt for Climate has held rallies at the IMF and World Bank, as well as at private vendors such as BlackRock in New York, bringing the words and stories from people in the global South to these centers of power."

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Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of Jubilee USA, was recently quoted in Reuters discussing the United States' involvement in the G20, specifically about calls from U.S. officials for G20 to "focus on their core missions of financial stability and development instead of climate finance and gender issues." Read an excerpt below or the full article here.

US eyes 'back to basics' revamp of G20 when it assumes presidency next year.

By: Andrea Shalal

"Dutch Finance Minister Eelco Heinen told Reuters on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Durban that collaboration under the G20 was more important than ever.

'But I do understand the agenda of the United States administration to keep it more lean and mean,' he said.

Activists and developing countries say they will watch U.S. actions, but that paring back could help the G20 survive.

'Our hope is that development continues to be linked,' said Eric LeCompte, executive director of the non-profit Jubilee USA Network. 'Financial stability, debt issues and economic issues cannot be separated from development and global growth.'"

Washington, DC – July 17 and 18 South Africa hosts G20 finance ministers for talks on the global economy, debt, financial stability and infrastructure and development bank loans. Last month, the World Bank forecast the lowest growth rate, outside recessions, since 2008.

"Low economic growth means developing countries will do less to address poverty and recovering from pandemic losses is further out of reach," said Eric LeCompte, the Executive Director of Jubilee USA Network, which focuses on G20 policies. “As debt payments are prioritized by countries, we'll see deeper cuts to education, healthcare and social services."

South Africa called for “bold and urgent action on a comprehensive plan to deal with high levels of debt in Africa and other developing countries" and appointed a panel of experts chaired by its former Finance Minister Trevor Manuel to make recommendations. A separate United Nations panel Manuel co-chairs found 26 countries faced ongoing debt crises since 2018, but only four of them sought a debt reduction. The UN panel questions whether existing debt restructuring processes are effective.

The South Africa-hosted G20 coincides with the Jubilee Year when interreligious institutions are calling for debt relief and changes to the economy to address poverty.

“As the first African country to chair the G20, South Africa wants solutions to the debt problems that plague the region,” shared LeCompte. 

At previous meetings, G20 finance ministers did not reach consensus on a communique, but Bloomberg reported that government officials sound confident that finance ministers will release a statement at this meeting.

Learn about the Jubilee Year of 2025 here.

Aldo Caliari, Jubilee USA Network's Senior Director of Policy and Strategy, was recently featured in an opinion piece in Mexico's La Jornada, discussing the UN Financing for Development Conference that took place in Seville, Spain earlier this month. Read the full article here.

Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of Jubilee USA Network, was recently interviewed by Catholic Financial Life, discussing the 2025 Jubilee Year: its origins, spiritual significance, and how forgiveness can transform real lives. 

Watch here.

Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of Jubilee USA, was recently quoted in an article covering the Vatican’s June 20th launch of the Jubilee Commission Report on debt and development. Read an excerpt below or the full article here.

Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of Jubilee USA, was recently quoted in a radio-recording explaining the Jubilee Commission Report.  Listen here (3:02-5:20) or read a transcript below.

Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of Jubilee USA was recently quoted, speaking on the Jubilee Commission Report launch, which took place at the Vatican on June 20th. Read an excerpt below or the full article here. 

Finance experts launch report at Vatican on foreign debt relief

By: Cindy Wooden

"The Holy Year 2025 can have a lasting impact on the world's poorest countries if governments and international institutions embrace a key element of the biblical concept of jubilee by forgiving, restructuring or pausing foreign debt repayments, said a report commissioned by Pope Francis

At the late pope's request, the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences and the Initiative for Policy Dialogue at Columbia University in New York brought together 30 global experts in debt, development and the global financial system to address the current debt crisis, prevent future crises and promote sustainable development.

The "Jubilee Commission," which began meeting in February, released "A Blueprint for Tackling the Debt and Development Crises and Securing a Sustainable People-Centered Global Economy" June 20 at the Vatican.

"Today, 3.3 billion people live in countries that spend more on interest payments than on health, and 2.1 billion live in countries that spend more on interest payments than on education," the report said. "Interest payments on public debt are therefore crowding out critical investments in health, education, infrastructure and climate resilience."

The indebted governments—"fearful of the political and economic costs of initiating debt restructurings—prioritize timely debt payments over essential development spending," the report said. "This is not a path to sustainable development. Rather, it is a roadblock to development and leads to increasing inequality and discontent."

Eric LeCompte, executive director of Jubilee USA Network, an interfaith group promoting debt relief and development, was not a member of the commission, but supported its work and was at the Vatican for the launch of the report.

Changing the way loans to developing nations are made, structured and restructured when a crisis occurs is essential because economic crises "are the main causes for war, for human rights violations, for migrations, for many of the environmental challenges that we are having," he told Catholic News Service June 19.

Many people will say, "A debt that is owed is a debt that should be paid," LeCompte said, "but I think it's more complicated than that.""

Over 30 Leading Experts Author Proposals for Placing People at the Center of Debt Decisions and Economic Policies