Eric LeCompte and Jubilee USA featured in Front Page Africa on the IMF's decision to allocate $650 billion global reserve funds, $350 million of which would benefit Liberia. Read an excerpt below, and click here for the full story.

Liberia to Benefit US$350M from IMF US$16Bn Aid to Poor Countries for Post-Covid Recovery

By Lennart Dodoo

Jubilee USA Network, a nonprofit organization that advocates debt relief for poor countries, praised the move by the I.M.F. and called on wealthy countries to do more to help.

“This is the biggest creation of emergency reserve funds that we’ve ever seen, and developing countries will immediately receive more than $200 billion,” said Eric LeCompte, executive director of Jubilee USA Network. “Wealthy countries who receive emergency reserves they don’t need should transfer those resources to developing countries struggling through the pandemic.”

The I.M.F., the World Bank, the World Health Organization and the World Trade Organization have created a new vaccine task force and called for an additional $50 billion investment to broaden access to supplies. The groups have also called on G20 countries to set a goal of having 40 percent of their populations vaccinated by the end of this year and 60 percent by the middle of next year.

Read more here.

Eric LeCompte is featured in Reuters on the need for universal vaccine access. Read an excerpt below and click here for the full story,

Virus variants threaten global recovery, G20 warns

By Gavin Jones, Leigh Thomas

An upsurge in new coronavirus variants and poor access to vaccines in developing countries threaten the global economic recovery, finance ministers of the world’s 20 largest economies warned on Saturday.

Italy said it the G20 would return to the issue of vaccine funding for poor countries ahead of a Rome summit in October and that new variants was an area that needed to be looked at. It did not give further details.

“We must agree on a process for everyone on the planet to be able to access vaccines. If we don’t, the IMF predicts that the global economy will lose $9 trillion,” religious development organization Jubilee USA Network said.

It was referring to an IMF forecast that international cooperation on COVID-19 vaccines could speed world economic recovery and add $9 trillion to global income by 2025.

Read more here.

KPFA Evening News' David Rosenberg interviews Eric Lecompte on how the G20 Finance Ministers' meeting addressed global COVID vaccine access. Click here to listen to the episode from 11:11 to 13:56. 

The KPFA Evening News (Saturday) – July 10, 2021

By David Rosenberg

Selected Statements from Eric LeCompte

"There are multiple issues around global COVID response that the G20 is considering this weekend in Italy. The issue where we're seeing a lack of political will and ambition is around global vaccine distribution and production."

"If we don't come to an agreement this year on how we can adequately get vaccines to everyone in the world, the IMF predicts that we will lose $9 trillion in the global economy and we'll continue to see mutations from the virus that will infect those who are already vaccinated in the North."

"The big issue where the G20 should have done more but failed to do so is getting the agreement done on global vaccine access, distribution and production. It leaves any progress on this agreement up to the October G20 meetings that'll be taking place in Italy."

"The most important thing the G20 needs to do is get the financing and resources to support global distribution and production of vaccines. That's where they fell short this meeting." 

Click here to listen to the episode from 11:11 to 13:56.

G20 finance ministers and central bank governors met in Venice, Italy, on COVID response, economic recovery, vaccines, debt relief and global tax agreements on July 9-10, 2021.

AP features Eric LeCompte on the IMF's decision to create $650 billion global reserve funds.

Read an excerpt below, and click here for the full story.

IMF approves $650 billion expansion to fight pandemic

By Martin Crutsinger

Eric LeCompte, executive director of the religious-affiliated development group Jubilee USA Network, said that the IMF action would allow developing countries to immediately receive more than $200 billion in support.

“Wealthy countries who receive emergency reserves they don't need should transfer those resources to developing countries struggling through the pandemic,” LeCompte said.

More than six months after vaccines became available, reported COVID-19 deaths worldwide have fallen to about 7,800 each day, after topping out at over 18,000 a day in January. The World Health Organization recorded just under 54,000 deaths last week, the lowest weekly total since last October.

However, COVID-19 has illuminated global inequities as deaths worldwide climbed to 4 million, a milestone recorded Wednesday by Johns Hopkins University.

Vaccination drives are barely getting started in Africa and other desperately poor corners of the world because of extreme shortages of shots.

To fund the spending, the IMF will expand its Special Drawing Rights, a currency reserve that can be tapped by IMF member countries.

Read more here.

Eric LeCompte and Jubilee USA featured in the New York Times on the IMF's backing of $650 billion in global reserve funds to help developing countries. Read an excerpt below, and click here for the full story.

I.M.F. Board Backs $650 Billion Aid Plan to Help Poor Countries

By Alan Rappeport 

The International Monetary Fund took a step on Friday toward easing widening global inequality and helping poor nations access vaccines, saying that its executive board approved a plan to issue $650 billion worth of reserve funds, which countries can use to purchase vaccines, finance health care and pay down debt.

Jubilee USA Network, a non-profit organization that advocates for debt relief for poor countries, praised the move by the I.M.F. and called on wealthy countries to do more to help.

“This is the biggest creation of emergency reserve funds that we’ve ever seen and developing countries will immediately receive more than $200 billion,” said Eric LeCompte, executive director of Jubilee USA Network. “Wealthy countries who receive emergency reserves they don’t need should transfer those resources to developing countries struggling through the pandemic.”

Read more here.

Critical COVID Aid Could Reach Developing Countries in August

The International Monetary Fund Executive Board agreed to create $650 billion of emergency currency known as Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) to help countries deal with the fallout from the coronavirus health and economic crises. The IMF’s main governing body, the Board of Governors, will take a final vote in coming weeks to move forward the SDRs creation. In a statement, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva indicated she expects the allocation as soon as August. 

Nearly 270 groups Call on G20 to Curb Tax Avoidance, Support Debt Relief and COVID Healthcare

The International Monetary Fund approved a debt relief process for Sudan, according to the country's finance ministry. The Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative, a debt relief process created in the early 2000s, will wipe out 85% of Sudan's debt, reducing debt from $50 billion to $8 billion.

"Sudan needs debt relief as the country emerges from 17 years of conflict and almost half of Sudan's people live in poverty,” said Eric LeCompte, the Executive Director of the religious development group Jubilee USA Network, which campaigned for the HIPC process more than 20 years ago. “Debt relief for Sudan means reducing child poverty and growing the country's economy."

In March, the United States loaned $1.1 billion to clear Sudan’s debt payment arrears to the World Bank and convened creditors to secure debt relief. A process also moved forward to cut Sudan's IMF debt in arrears.

“As Sudan struggles with the health and economic impacts of the coronavirus, debt relief is a critical resource for recovery," shared LeCompte.           

Sudan is the 38th country to benefit, out of 39 countries eligible for the HIPC initiative. Eritrea is the remaining country.

Aldo Caliari and Jubilee USA are featured in the Norwegian newspaper Bistandsaktuelt on the IMF's new $100 billion in Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) to developing countries. Read an excerpt in English below, and click here for the full story.

IMF Will Secure $100 Billion to Developing Countries in Crisis

By Asle Olav Rønning

Aldo Caliari, head of policy-making at Jubilee USA Network , an organization that works to help debt relief for developing countries, says the planned expansion of the IMF's SDRs is a step forward. He points out that a number of actors have worked intensively for more than a year from the time the proposal first came out until it is now time to adopt it.

At the same time, he believes the needs are even greater than what is now on the table. SDRs are not a precise tool, because they are a scheme that applies to all countries.

Jubilee USA Network argued for an SDR allocation of 300 billion dollars precisely because of the skewed distribution, where only about a third of the amount goes to developing countries, Caliari writes in an email to Bistandsaktuelt.

He refers to estimates from the IMF that low-income countries alone will need $200 billion to get through the pandemic, and another $250 billion to return to the same development path for economic growth as high-income countries.

Read more here.

Reuters features Eric LeCompte and Jubilee USA Network on the IMF's new trust regarding pandemic aid and climate change. 

Read an excerpt below, and click here for the full story.

Exclusive - IMF eyes new trust to provide aid to broader group of countries - Georgieva

By Andrea Shalal

The IMF expects its board to formally approve the $650 billion SDR allocation in August, paving the way for member countries to donate their unneeded reserves to others in need.

The previously unreported new trust could help broaden the effort and make funds available to more countries, and for broader initiatives, in line with global goals for combating climate change.

Eric LeCompte, an adviser to the United Nations and executive director of Jubilee USA Network, said the IMF’s work on the new trust marked “significant progress” for many middle income countries also hit hard by the pandemic.

“It means that more countries with needs can get aid and resources to get through the pandemic,” he said.

Read more here.