West Orlando News quotes Eric LeCompte on the recent WTO vaccine decision with regards to developing countries facing challenges in accessing vaccines. Read an excerpt below, and click here for the full story.

World Trade Organization Vaccine Decision Falls Short, Says Development Group

“For countries struggling to protect their people against continued COVID outbreaks, this decision won’t do enough,” said Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of the religious development group Jubilee USA. “After more than two years of a pandemic that cost millions of lives, developing countries need a suspension of multiple WTO rules in order to boost access to vaccines, tests and treatments.”

Read here for more.

American newspaper/magazine Barron's highlights the challenge of African economic crises that the G-7 faces with respect to debt relief, Special Drawing Rights, and other mechanisms. Read an excerpt below, and click here for the full article.

A Chance to Stand Behind Africa in a Moment of Unprecedented Challenge

G-7 leaders should commit to more SDR transfers and more channels to carry them out. They can tie their commitments to assurance from recipients that they will set participatory and transparent strategies for applying SDRs to sustainable and climate goals. It is important that recycled SDRs do not create new debt, and come without harmful conditions such as austerity reforms that worsen human development or access to essential services. In particular, the African Development Bank and the International Fund for Agricultural Development, with their proven experience driving agricultural development, can harness the power of SDRs to stop a catastrophic food crisis in the region.

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In a letter that appeared in the Financial Times, Aldo Caliari, Senior Director of Policy and Strategy, explains how the recently-introduced NY Taxpayer and International Debt Crises Protection Act could bind private creditors into sovereign debt restructurings, and why we need it. Read the full letter here. 

Financial Times features an article by Aldo Caliari on the need for the G-7 to influence China to take part in solutions for debt crises across the world. 

Letter: G7 needs China to help head off a debt crisis

By Aldo Caliari

Read here for more.

Bill Can Ease Global Supply Shocks and Help Vulnerable People Weather Pandemic and Ukraine Economic Shocks

Ukraine War, Debt and Inflation were Focuses of the G7 Meeting

G7 finance ministers issued their strongest statement to date pressing China and the private sector to engage in debt relief efforts for developing countries. Germany, holding the G7 presidency this year, hosted the meetings in Bonn and Königswinter.

“The G7 put the spotlight on the need for China and the private sector to participate in debt relief initiatives,” noted Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of Jubilee USA Network. LeCompte has monitored the G7 meetings for more than a decade.

G7 countries stressed the need for private creditors to participate in debt relief. On Thursday, New York State Assemblymember Patricia Fahy introduced the New York Taxpayer and International Debt Crises Protection Act. The bill compels private creditors operating under New York State law to participate in debt relief initiatives at the same level as the US government, other governments and other creditors.

“New York legislative action ensures private creditors will participate in the debt relief that the G7 is calling for,” added LeCompte.

The G7 pledged to support Sri Lanka debt restructuring efforts as the developing country became the latest one to default.

“The fact that Sri Lanka is not covered by current debt relief agreements shows the urgency of expanding relief initiatives to more countries facing crises,” stated LeCompte.

The Ukraine war, inflation, food and climate action were key aspects of the three-day meetings. G7 presidents and heads of state meet in Schloss Elmau, Germany in June.

Read our press release on the newly-introduced New York Private creditor bill here.

Read the full G7 Finance Ministers Communiqué here.

US Taxpayers, Consumers and Economy Poised to Benefit from Action

Leaders Pledge Vaccines, Treatments and Health Investment

Eric LeCompte and Cathy Feingold, the Deputy President of the ITUC and International Director of the AFL-CIO, writing for Barron's call for global economic policies in response to the Ukraine war and the health and economic crises severely impacting most of the world due to the pandemic. . Read the full article here.

A Resilient Global Economy Is Within Reach

By Eric LeCompte and Cathy Feingold

War rages in Ukraine and a global crisis looms. Gas prices rise and around the world, wheat, corn and fertilizer prices skyrocket. The International Monetary Fund says the global economy will slow, contributing to food shortages in developing countries. Russia’s war on Ukraine combined with Covid-19 made a terrible global situation worse. There are economic policies that Republican and Democratic leaders can find common ground with the Biden administration to make the U.S. and global economy more resilient in the face of these threats.

Devex profiles Jubilee USA. Read full article here

Indebted to faith: How the Jubilee campaign aims to end global poverty

By Shabtai Gold

A few days have passed since the gloomy Spring Meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, rife with warnings about the war in Ukraine and looming food riots, so Eric LeCompte is a welcome breath of fresh air. The leader of the Jubilee USA Network has an understated positive vibe that is quietly infectious and not exactly discernable at first.

His career began in the mid-1990s in New York’s Catholic homeless shelters and soup kitchens, and it later took him to advocate against torture in Latin America through work at School of the Americas Watch. Now with Jubilee in Washington, he’s focused on reworking a global financial system he says is based on outdated architecture that perpetuates inequality.

There are “a few countries at the top who call the shots for the whole world,” he says, leading to his sharp focus on lower-income countries’ debt burdens.

LeCompte is deeply enmeshed in the details of global finance, not just abstractions. He is intimately familiar with the fine print of challenges facing debtor nations, from excessive loan burdens and interest rates to corruption and trade.

He says both low- and high-income countries must improve their performances to end the cycle of indebtedness and poverty.

“The reality is, countries go into debt because they are not capturing revenue at home,” he says, noting that tackling illicit financial flows and corruption often involves leadership at both ends of the wealth spectrum. His rhetoric focuses less on blame and more on action.

AP, US News, Fox and NYT Quotes Eric LeCompte. Read the full article here.

Rising Interest Rates in US Will Hinder Foreign Economies

By Paul Wiseman 

WASHINGTON (AP) — When the Federal Reserve raises interest rates — as it did Wednesday — the impact doesn’t stop with U.S. homebuyers paying more for mortgages or Main Street business owners facing costlier bank loans.

The fallout can be felt beyond America’s borders, hitting shopkeepers in Sri Lanka, farmers in Mozambique and families in poorer countries around the world. The impacts abroad range from higher borrowing costs to depreciating currencies.

“It will put pressure on all types of developing countries,” said Eric LeCompte, executive director of the Jubilee USA Network, a coalition of groups seeking to reduce global poverty.