The International Monetary Fund (IMF) released its biannual report on the state of the global economy, predicting that economic growth for several wealthy countries will continue.

"‎The IMF is warning that poor countries don't have the resources to protect against climate-related changes," noted Eric LeCompte, the Executive Director of Jubilee USA and an expert on United Nation finance groups. LeCompte has tracked IMF economic reports since 2010. "We can look at the string of hurricanes that hit poor Caribbean countries to see that poor economies are not equipped to deal with natural disasters."

Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands are among several Caribbean economies struggling to recover from this year's hurricane season.

"Beyond dealing with stronger and more frequent storms, the IMF sees vulnerabilities for poor countries who need to deal with food and poverty issues caused by climate changes," commented LeCompte on the climate elements of the report.

The World Economic Outlook report notes that while growth for some developed countries is on the "upswing," the growth is still lower than expected.

"While some growth is positive, too many poor and developing countries have yet to recover from the global financial crisis," stated LeCompte.‎

Read International Monetary Fund's October 2017 World Economic Outlook Report‎

Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of Jubilee USA was recently featured in The Philadelphia Inquirer speaking on Puerto Rico. Read excerpt below and follow link to full article.

Forgiveness Alone Won't End Puerto Rico's Debt Crisis

By: Joseph DiStefano

"Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans fled to the U.S. mainland. 'You can buy a $60 one-way ticket to Miami or an $89 ticket to New York, and you are a citizen here,' LeCompte says. Residents of storm-wracked, independent, and broke Caribbean islands such as Dominica and Antigua-Barbuda are still more desperate, seeking shelter from relatives abroad. Those islands face effective takeover by the International Monetary Fund.

Could even rich U.S. states such as Pennsylvania and New Jersey, where politicians try to paper over billion-dollar budget gaps by urging residents to gamble more, get like this? Bankruptcy and forgiveness aren’t enough, LeCompte concludes: 'There need to be protections in place for responsible lending and responsible borrowing. Public budget transparency. Bond market regulations. Or you’ll get more financial crises as bad as things got in Puerto Rico.'"

Read more here.

Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of Jubilee USA was recently cited in USA Today speaking on Puerto Rico. Read excerpt below and follow link to full article. 

6 Reasons Why Puerto Rico Slid into Financial Crisis

By: Nathan Bomey

"'There’s no way for Puerto Rico to be able to rebuild, let alone recover, unless the debt is canceled,' said Eric LeCompte, executive director of Jubilee USA Network, a religious coalition that's fighting for Puerto Rico debt relief. 'Fortunately for Puerto Rico that process is in place.'"

Read more here.

Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of Jubilee USA was recently featured in Value Walk speaking on Puerto Rico's debt crisis. Read excerpt below and follow link to full article.

Expert Who Helped Craft PROMESA Act: President Trump Is Right, Bondholders Could Lose Everything

By: Mark Melin

"LeCompte pointed out that the super bankruptcy process includes a key provision that pins debt payments to the economic ability of a sovereign region to pay. The provisions of the PROMESA act are more sweeping in this regard than credit leniency afforded to states or other sovereign governments, he said.

'There has been an acknowledgment from island’s oversight board that hurricane relief takes priority,' LeCompte said, noting that money earmarked to pay bondholders is currently being diverted to hurricane relief. There is a significant likelihood that a large portion of the debt will be forgiven, he said. The issue is entirely up to the bankruptcy judge. 'Bankruptcy judge has tremendous authority to cut and cancel the debt,' with one 'best case scenario' for bondholders being that they may receive restructured bonds that are linked to economic growth, a notion that LeCompte championed in other debt crises such as Argentina and Greece. The concept for the super bankruptcy process is based, in large part, on the 1953 London Agreement, which forgave German war debt and allowed the nation to experience tremendous economic growth."

Read more here.

Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of Jubilee USA was recently featured in Between the Lines speaking on debt relief. Read excerpt below and follow link to full article.

Urgent Call for Debt Relief After Hurricane Shatters Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands

By: Scott Harris

"'In particular, we definitely want the bankruptcy process in Puerto Rico to continue to move forward. That process is going to take into account the devastation of the hurricane and ensure a higher cut in terms of the debt. In terms of the aid that comes from the United States that comes from the federal government, we want it to be robust in the form of grants that goes in terms of relief aid to Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands. We don't want Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands to have to get more debt in order to finance its reconstruction and recovery.

It's also absolutely imperative that the aid that comes in is sufficient to rebuild Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands in ways that are going to be able to withstand what seem to be more powerful and more frequent storms in this moment of our history.

And the final piece that we and our partners in Puerto Rico are advocating and it actually impacts many of the Caribbean Islands that have been devastated by the storms – from Puerto Rico to the U.S. Virgin Islands to the countries of Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica – is that we really believe it's incumbent on Congress to pass greater laws around budget transparency, responsible lending and borrowing because these types of laws prevent financial crisis. These types of laws actually secure protections in the markets not only for the U.S. citizens living in Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands, but also in U.S. states and foreign countries because much of the world's debt is actually contracted through New York law.'"

Read more here.

Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of Jubilee USA was recently featured in Common Dreams speaking on Puerto Rico. Read excerpt below and follow link to full article.

Puerto Rico is On Track for Historic Debt Forgiveness -- Unless Wall Street Gets its Way

By: Kate Aronoff

"'Now that the hurricanes have happened, and we understand the level of devastation that has taken place on the island, the bankruptcy process that’s in place under Swain now has to take into account this new reality,' LeCompte tells me. 'For Puerto Rico, that means a much bigger haircut than we were looking at beforehand.'

According to LeCompte, there are a couple of ways that forgiveness or cancellation could play out. Beyond outright forgiveness, one idea that’s been popular even among some bondholders is to repackage any remaining debt into a bond that would only be repaid once Puerto Rico crosses a certain threshold of GDP growth. A less likely scenario — though one LeCompte advised to look out for, and Trump himself may have suggested — could see Congress pass a bail-out for bondholders, pouring federal funds into recouping their losses. Another recourse for creditors, he tells me, 'is trying to get Congress to amend or change PROMESA legislation to disempower the bankruptcy process.'"

Read more here.

Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of Jubilee USA was recently cited in Common Dreams speaking on Puerto Rico. Read excerpt below and follow link to full article.

White House: When Trump Says "Wipe Out" Puerto Rico's Debt That Doesn't Mean "Bail Them Out"

By: Andrea Germanos 

"Eric LeCompte, executive director of the religious development organization Jubilee USA, has also argued that the damage wrought by Hurricane Maria was worsened by the debt crisis.

'Puerto Rico can't recover with the debt it has,' he said. 'Puerto Rico was already undergoing a bankruptcy process that was going to substantially cut the island's debt. Now that bankruptcy process needs to access the hurricane damage and cancel even more of the debt,' he said."

Read more here.

Read Eric LeCompte's statement on the crisis

Read religious leaders' statement in English, en español 

President Trump is scheduled to make a visit to Puerto Rico on Tuesday, October 3rd, to review disaster relief efforts. Trump may visit the US Virgin Islands which is also undergoing hurricane recovery efforts.‎

Eric LeCompte, Jubilee USA Executive Director, releases the following statement:

"President Trump has an opportunity to ensure Puerto Rico recovers, the island gets out of debt and ‎kids can live healthy lives.

"Not only is Puerto Rico reeling from the hurricanes, it was already wrestling with a financial crisis and nearly 60 percent of kids on the island lived in poverty.

"Going forward we need to be sure that Puerto Rico gets enough aid to rebuild and recover.‎ We also need to be sure that Puerto Rico gets ample debt relief to lift kids out of poverty.‎

"The US Virgin Islands needs more attention and more aid. The Virgin Islands were hit by two category 5‎ hurricanes, has a terrible debt crisis and high child poverty rate."‎

Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of Jubilee USA was recently featured in BuzzFeed News speaking on Puerto Rico. Read excerpt below and follow link to full article.

It Wasn't Just a Hurricane that Destroyed Puerto Rico

By: Michael Sean Winters

"'Before the hurricanes, almost 60% of kids in Puerto Rico lived in poverty and the island was already reeling from hurricane-like blows in the form of austerity,' said Eric LeCompte, executive director of Jubilee USA, a faith-based nonprofit that focuses on debt issues in the developing world. 'Austerity measures cut health care, education, and social services on the island. Austerity bleeds hope and breeds despair among a people that have suffered so much.'

LeCompte has been working with religious, business, and labor leaders, both on the island and in Washington, for more than two years, helping them to craft solutions to the fiscal crisis that would not further harm the poor. He played a key role in fashioning PROMESA, the bill passed by Congress to address Puerto Rico’s debt crisis, and he said critics of the legislation fail to grasp what it achieved at a time when there were no better options.

The law has two main achievements, he said. 'First, it prevented predatory vulture funds from buying the island's debt cheap to profit off the crisis and make a bad situation even worse. Second, the legislation created a bankruptcy process that can cut all of Puerto Rico's debt, a process that can take into account the impacts of the hurricane.'"

Read more here.

Jubilee USA's Executive Director Eric LeCompte releases the below statement on Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands debt crises after the hurricanes. LeCompte worked on Puerto Rico emergency debt crisis legislation, testified to Congress and Puerto Rico's oversight board on the debt crisis and serves on United Nation debt expert groups.

Eric LeCompte, Jubilee USA Executive Director, releases the following statement:

"Before the hurricanes hit Puerto Rico, 60 percent of its kids lived in poverty and we already felt the island's financial crisis was deteriorating into a humanitarian crisis. After the hurricanes, we are facing absolute devastation made worse by the island's debt crisis.

"Too few eyes are on the US Virgin Islands. They've been ravaged by the hurricanes and they already were experiencing one of the worst debt crises in the Caribbean.

"Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands are in no position to make debt payments until they rebuild and recover. Both Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands need deep debt relief after the hurricanes.

"Last year Congress passed emergency debt crisis legislation for Puerto Rico. Because of Congressional action, the largest bankruptcy process in US history is currently underway in Puerto Rico. That bankruptcy process can take into account the impacts of the hurricane and now provide even greater debt relief for the island.

"Unfortunately, we don't have a clear process for the US Virgin Islands to get debt relief at this time. We will need action from Congress and the creditors. In any case, the US Virgin Islands has no ability to make debt payments in the near future."