The New York Times, Fox News, ABC and the Associated Press featured Eric LeCompte's remarks on IMF debt relief. Read an excerpt below, and click here for the full story.
Washington DC - The leadership of the World Bank Group, the Development Committee, released their communiqué at the close of the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings. World Bank President gave a closing press conference.
Eric LeCompte the Executive Director of the religious development organization Jubilee USA, releases the following statement on the World Bank Development Committee Communiqué on the Transfer of Real Resources to Developing Countries:
"The communiqué of the World Bank leadership just offered the first direction that the Fund and World Bank are looking at how Middle Income Countries need debt relief as well.
"We need to be looking at how all developing countries, not just the poorest, are impacted by the coronavirus. This acknowledgement is positive from the World Bank.
"We welcome this critical signal from the leadership of the World Bank that they will start to evaluate the debt challenges and needs of Middle Income Countries.
"While Malpass reiterated many important points from the decisions made this week, the money quotes are in the statement from the leadership about broadening their efforts to more developing countries."
Read the World Bank Communiqué here
Read Jubilee USA's April 1st letter to the IMF on reserve gold funds here
Read Jubilee USA's March 23rd letter to IMF on a health and economic COVID-19 plan here
Read about the IMF World Economic Report here
Read about the Major Religious Institutions Letter to the President, IMF and G20 to Cancel Debts and Use Reserves to Protect Poor here
Devex interviewed Eric LeCompte on the IMF and G20's use of debt relief as a response to COVID-19 and the global recession. Read an excerpt below, and click here for the full story.
Debt relief frees up money immediately, allowing governments to use funds that had been reserved for debt repayment to address urgent needs and work to shore up their economies, said Eric LeCompte, the executive director of the Jubilee USA Network.
"While we see progress, we still need to answer a lot of questions. What about other developing countries and emerging markets who need relief? How will a process move forward to cut debt when debt is unsustainable for countries?" he said.
Read more here.
The New York Times featured Eric LeCompte's thoughts on the IMF and it's response to COVID-19 and the global recession. Fox News, the Associated Press and thousands of other news outlets included Eric's thoughts in their stories. Read an excerpt below, and click here for the full story.
Washington DC - The International Monetary and Financial Committee, the leadership of the IMF, released their Spring Meetings communiqué calling coronavirus economic impacts, "unprecedented" and that "the global economic outlook is subject to high uncertainty."
"The IMF is saying that our economic prospects are terrible, our economy could even face further disaster and they don't know how much worse it can actually get," noted Eric LeCompte, who leads the religious development group Jubilee USA. "World leaders are taking some strong actions, but even stronger actions are needed if we hope to minimize the loss of life and protect jobs."
Jubilee USA advocated for several IMF crisis solutions since mid-March including dept payment suspensions and expanding an IMF process which delivered health-care aid through debt relief and grants during the 2015 Ebola epidemic. On Monday, the Fund announced the expansion of this Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust to cancel 6 months of debt for the world's poorest 25 countries. These funds will bolster health systems and support crisis prevention measures in the countries.
On Wednesday the G20 announced a suspension of debt payments and interest for the world's 76 poorest countries and Angola in order to confront the coronavirus.
"We welcome steps taken so far to increase aid, financing and debt relief," stated LeCompte a United Nations finance expert who monitors IMF reports and meetings. "A critical action that the world must take is to access financial reserves so all countries can survive this crisis. The leaders of the IMF and G20 must approve access to these reserves, or what's also known as the special drawing rights or SDRs."
The G20 continues to struggle to reach a consensus on allowing the use of the special drawing rights.
On April 1st, Jubilee USA Network wrote the leader of the IMF urging the selling of gold reserves to provide greater aid to developing countries, after analyzing Fund balance sheets and the current market price of gold.
"The IMF holds $140 billion in gold reserves. Portions of this money can be used to get more aid and relief to the world's most vulnerable countries," shared LeCompte.
In a March 23rd letter to the IMF, Jubilee USA called for a “well-designed, globally-coordinated response from the international community" to the health and economic impacts of the crisis. The development group detailed a plan to expand debt relief, aid, financing, improve debt restructuring and move forward financial crisis protections and transparency initiatives.
"We're only in the bottom of the first inning in dealing with this health and economic crisis," said LeCompte. "We need everyone's help through the last inning. The stakes of playing ball have never been higher and this game's outcome determines how many of us will survive."
Read Jubilee USA's April 1st letter to the IMF on reserve gold funds here
Read Jubilee USA's March 23rd letter to IMF on a health and economic COVID-19 plan here
Read about the IMF World Economic Report here
Read about the Major Religious Institutions Letter to the President, IMF and G20 to Cancel Debts and Use Reserves to Protect Poor here
Washington DC -The leadership of the IMF, the International Monetary and Financial Committee, releases their Communiqué.
"We are dealing with the worst economic crisis of our lifetimes.
"The IMF is saying that our economic prospects are terrible, our economy could even face further disaster and they don't know how much worse it can actually get.
"World leaders are taking some strong actions, but even stronger actions are needed if we hope to minimize the loss of life and protect jobs.
"We welcome steps taken so far to increase aid, debt relief, debt payment suspensions and increased financing.
"While we've seen progress, we must move forward more aid, financing and debt relief for developed and developing countries so people can survive the devastating health and economic impacts of the coronavirus crisis.
"A critical action that the world must take is to access financial reserves so all countries can survive this crisis. The leaders of the IMF and G20 must approve access to these reserves, or what's also known as the special drawing rights or SDRs.
"The IMF holds $140 billion in gold reserves. Portions of this money can be used to get more aid and relief to the world's poorest countries."
Read the IMFC Statement here
Read about the IMF World Economic Report here
Read Remarks by IMF's Kristalina Georgieva During the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting here
Read World Bank President David Malpass's Remarks to G20 Finance Ministers here
Read about the Major Religious Institutions Letter to the President, IMF and G20 to Cancel Debts and Use Reserves to Protect Poor here
Read Jubilee USA's March 23rd letter to IMF on a health and economic COVID-19 plan here
Read Jubilee USA's gold sales letter to the IMF here
Washington DC - The G20 announced a suspension of debt payments and interest for the world's 76 poorest countries in order to bolster health services to confront the coronavirus. IMF head, Kristalina Georgieva and World Bank President, David Malpass spoke to the G20 Finance Ministers and Governors urging all types of debt holders, including banks, to offer debt relief for poor countries.
"The most innovative piece of the G20 commitment to suspend debt payments for the poorest countries, is to create a process that involves private creditors, banks and other commercial creditors to also offer debt relief," said Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of the religious development group Jubilee USA Network. "While we see progress, we still need to answer a lot of questions. What about other developing countries and emerging markets who need relief? How will a process move forward to cut debt when debt is unsustainable for countries?"
Kristalina Georgieva, the IMF's Managing Director at a press conference, urged that every resource possible be deployed to protect lives and livelihoods as the world struggles with the health and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Georgieva's speech hits the right notes. All of us need to do everything we can and deploy every resource to save lives and protect jobs in the face of the coronavirus," noted LeCompte who monitors IMF reports and serves on United Nations debt expert groups. "A critical action that the world must take is to access financial reserves so all countries can survive this crisis. The leaders of the IMF must approve access to these reserves, or what's also known as the special drawing rights or SDRs."
Read about the IMF World Economic Report here
Read Remarks by IMF's Kristalina Georgieva During the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting here
Read World Bank President David Malpass's Remarks to G20 Finance Ministers here
Read about the Major Religious Institutions Letter to the President, IMF and G20 to Cancel Debts and Use Reserves to Protect Poor here
Read Jubilee USA's March 23rd letter to IMF on a health and economic COVID-19 plan here
Read Jubilee USA's April 1st letter to the IMF on reserve gold funds here
The news wire service Thomson Reuters included Eric's analysis of the G20 announcement halting debt payments and interest for poor countries affected by the coronavirus. The story was shared by news outlets around the world. Read an excerpt below, and click here for the full story.
Marketwatch cited Eric LeCompte's comments on the G-20 announcement to halt debt payments for 76 poor countries affected by the coronavirus. Read an excerpt below, and click here for the full story.
Eric LeCompte, the executive director of Jubilee USA network, said he was encouraged that the two organizations were urging “all types of creditors to come together to relive the debts of the poorest countries,” but noted the devil was in the details.
Read more here.
Washington DC - The G20 announces a suspension of debt payments for the world's 76 poorest countries. Kristalina Georgieva, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund calls for every resource to be deployed to protect lives and livelihoods throughout the world.
Eric LeCompte the Executive Director of Jubilee USA Network and a United Nations Finance Expert, releases the following statement on G20 announcement and Managing Director speech:
"Georgieva's speech hits the right notes. All of us need to do everything we can and deploy every resource to save lives and protect jobs in the face of the coronavirus.
"The most innovative piece of the G20 commitment to suspend debt payments for the poorest countries, is to create a process that involves private creditors, banks and other commercial creditors to also offer debt relief.
"A process that brings together a collective mechanism to deal with suspending all debt payments for the poorest countries is historic.
"We still have a lot of questions and we still need to hammer out a lot of details. What is happening with the interest on the debt? What about other developing countries and emerging markets who need relief? How will a process move forward to cut debt when debt is unsustainable for countries?"
Read about the IMF's Debt Relief for 25 Poor Countries here
Read about the Catholic Bishops Letter to Urge President Trump to Lead Global COVID-19 Debt Relief here
Read Jubilee USA's March 23rd letter to IMF on a health and economic COVID-19 plan here
Read Jubilee USA's April 1st letter to the IMF on reserve gold funds here
Washington DC - IMF head, Kristalina Georgieva and World Bank President, David Malpass spoke to the G20 Finance Ministers and Governors this morning on debt relief and using multi-stakeholder processes to relieve debt.
"What's new and exciting about the the comments from Georgieva and Malpass is that they are urging all types of creditors to come together to relieve the debts of the poorest countries.
"Malpass is strongly encouraging commercial creditors to also offer debt relief.
"It's exciting that both the Fund and the World Bank are alluding to a process that will bring together multiple stakeholders.
"Civil society and monitoring mechanisms need to be a part of any coordinating creditor mechanism.
"The devil is still in the details. How will we deal with further debt vulnerabilities and sustainability issues?"
Read Remarks by IMF's Kristalina Georgieva During the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting here
Read World Bank President David Malpass's Remarks to G20 Finance Ministers here
Read about Major Religious Institutions Letter to President, IMF and G20 to Cancel Debts and Use Reserves to Protect Poor here
Read Jubilee USA's March 23rd letter to IMF on a health and economic COVID-19 plan here
Read Jubilee USA's April 1st letter to the IMF on reserve gold funds here
Inter Press Service featured the IMF's decision to halt debt payments for 25 poor countries affected by the coronavirus. Read an excerpt below, and click here for the full story.
La decisión del FMI “es un paso increíblemente positivo. Estos países necesitan reforzar sus sistemas de salud de inmediato y la cancelación de la deuda por seis meses les ayudará”, dijo Eric LeCompte, director de la coalición estadounidense Jubilee, que trabaja por la condonación de las deudas de los países del Sur.
“Muchos de estos países tienen menos de 50 camas de cuidados intensivos”, las que se requieren para tratar a pacientes graves de covid-19, recordó LeCompte.
Read more here.