Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of Jubilee USA was recently featured in IOL speaking on the G20 Leaders' Declaration and G20 Common Framework. Read the excerpt below and follow the link to full article.

G20 Summit in SA trumps detractors, puts poor countries’ issues at center of global discourse

By: Siphelele Dludla

"Eric LeCompte, executive director of the religious development group Jubilee USA Network, said the statement called for improving the Common Framework, the G20 process for countries seeking debt reductions.

“The fact that the Common Framework, in five years, provided debt treatment to only four countries that requested it, is a diplomatic way of stating its limitations, since we know 26 countries have been in debt crises since at least 2018,” LeCompte said.

“The declaration seems to indicate that the G20 would like the Common Framework to become a more bankruptcy-like process or comprehensive debt restructuring process. It's unprecedented for G20 leaders to call for inclusion of borrower countries to improve international debt policies.” 

Read more here.

Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of Jubilee USA was recently featured in G20 Interfaith’s 2025 documentary speaking on the themes of the Interfaith Forum taking place during the G20. Watch the documentary linked below.

Documentary - 2025 G20 Interfaith Forum Cape Town, South Africa

Watch here.

Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of Jubilee USA was recently featured in Devex speaking on the G20’s new plan to ease Africa’s growing debt crisis. Read the excerpt below and follow the link to full article.

Devex Newswire: G20 handed bold plan to ease Africa’s crushing debt load

By: Helen Murphy 

Experts at the Boston University Global Development Policy Center found in their recent analysis that selling just 10% of the International Monetary Fund’s gold reserves would generate enough funds to offset this year’s cuts to foreign aid. “The selling of IMF gold reserves has precedence, it is impactful, it can make a huge difference, and it can be done again,” said Eric LeCompte of the Jubilee USA Network.

Read more here. 

Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of Jubilee USA was recently featured in Devex speaking on the G20’s new debt refinancing plan. Read the excerpt below and follow the link to full article.

G20 panel calls for a new debt refinancing plan for low-income nations

By: Elissa Miolene

“All the ideas are possible,” said Eric LeCompte, the executive director of the Jubilee USA Network, which focuses on debt reform. “The challenge is whether they will continue to be implemented in an incremental way, or whether we can start to implement them more robustly.”

“The selling of IMF gold reserves has precedence, it is impactful, it can make a huge difference, and it can be done again,” said LeCompte.

Still, LeCompte continued, the proposal could have gone further. The new initiative, he said, is closer to the Bridge Proposal — a stopgap approach that’s meant to give developing countries short-term breathing room when they can’t refinance their debt. It tackles liquidity issues instead of persistent debt challenges, and while that’s helpful, he added, the most indebted nations need more.

“Some countries, especially poor countries, are actually going to need debt relief and a total debt restructuring,” he said. 

“They’re calling to turn the common framework into more of an international bankruptcy process to make it more timely, efficient and quicker,” said LeCompte “I think that idea has potential, but at the same time, there are many governments in the developing world that are dissatisfied with the progress of the Common Framework.”

Read more here.

Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of Jubilee USA, was recently featured in Devex speaking on the global debt burden impacting African nations. Read the excerpt below and follow the link to full article.

Devex Newswire: Will Africa be forever indebted to its rich creditors?

By: Anna Gawel

“The G20 understands that if we don’t fix the global debt problem, we’re not going to return to strong economic growth,” says Eric LeCompte of the Jubilee USA Network. “We see the promise of the G20 coming together at this time and reiterating their commitment to dealing with debt, and that’s incredibly important. But we need the G20 to do more.”

Read more here.

Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of Jubilee USA was recently featured in Devex speaking on the G20’s Ministerial Declaration on debt relief. Read the excerpt below and follow the link to full article.

G20 recommits to debt relief - but critics say it’s far from enough

By: Elissa Miolene and Adva Saldinger

”The G20 understands that if we don’t fix the global debt problem, we’re not going to return to strong economic growth. We’re going to see rising food and fuel prices, and of course more and more developing countries will go into crisis,” said Eric LeCompte, the executive director of Jubilee USA Network. “We see the promise of the G20 coming together at this time and reiterating their commitment to dealing with debt, and that’s incredibly important. But we need the G20 to do more.”

Read more here.

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, 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.'"

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.