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The Business Times, Taipei Times and Reuters cite Eric LeCompte on G20/World Bank Debt Plans

June 23, 2020

The Business Times, Taipei Times and Reuters quote Eric LeCompte on the upcoming G20 and World Bank debt plans. Read more here. 

UPDATE 2-World Bank chief calls for more private sector buy-in on G20 debt relief

By: Andrea Shalal

Eric LeCompte, executive director of Jubilee USA Network, said having the data in one place would make it easier to deal with an impending wave of debt restructurings.

“It’s no longer a question of if, now it’s just a matter of when,” he said.

The G20’s International Financial Architecture Working Group is due to meet virtually on Tuesday to discuss the initiative and private sector participation, LeCompte said. (Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Sandra Maler, Kim Coghill and Sonya Hepinstall)

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Catholic Profiles Interviews Eric LeCompte on Addressing Poverty

June 14, 2020

Catholic Profiles interviewed Eric LeCompte on the mission of Jubilee USA Network. Read more here. 

An Interview with Eric LeCompte

By: Gordon Nary

Gordon: When were you appointed as Executive Director of Jubilee USA Network, and what have been some of the most rewarding experiences that you have had to date?

Eric: I took over the reigns of Jubilee USA in April 2010. Working at Jubilee USA is a fulfillment of my Catholic vocation. The most rewarding experience of my career is working with, supporting and advising Catholic and other Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders. Working with the Bishops and Catholic religious orders of the United States, Caribbean, Puerto Rico, Africa, and Latin America as well as major interfaith leaders in all of these regions can only be described as a gift.

Together this interfaith work has had unprecedented results. We’ve moved forward major policies to address the structural causes of poverty - debt, tax, and trade issues. In Africa, our efforts brought aid and debt relief monies to confront the Ebola epidemic that hit Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. We created a new process at the International Monetary Fund that strengthened healthcare and built new hospitals across the region.

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Fox News, Houston Chronicle, San Francisco Chronicle and Associated Press Feature Eric LeCompte United Nation COVID Speech

June 03, 2020

Fox News, Houston Chronicle, San Francisco Chronicle and Associated Press feature Eric LeCompte on his United Nations COVID-19 Speech. Read more here.

UN urges help for countries near 'debt distress' from virus

By: Edith M. Lederer

Eric LeCompte, executive director of Jubilee USA Network, an alliance of more than 75 U.S. organizations and 700 faith communities working for debt relief, was sharply critical of the resistance of private creditors, commercial lenders and banks to participate in debt relief calls — despite calls by the G-20, International Monetary Fund, World Bank and United States.

“Because of the enormity of this crisis and the long-term challenges the markets could face, the fact that some private and commercial creditor blocks are not participating ... baffles the mind,” he told the virtual meeting.

LeCompte said the U.N. Security Council must act “given that this crisis could devastate all of us, poor countries and the markets.”

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NPR's Marketplace Features Jubilee USA on COVID and Developing Country Debt

May 29, 2020

Marketplace podcast, NPR's flagship program on contextualizing the economic news of the day, featured Jubilee USA's Eric LeCompte as it discussed how emerging markets are faring in this crisis. Listen to the full podcast here.

This Crisis is hard on us. It's even harder on countries that aren't rich. 

By: Sabri Ben-Achour 

"The United Nations right now predicts that 40 to 60 million people will move into extreme poverty because of this crisis," said Jubilee USA Executive Director Eric LeCompte. His warning comes as the IMF seeks to provide small, short-term debt relief when the current situation demands more significant action.   

The episode also included analysis on the rapidly developing unemployment rate, the different ways the government measures joblessness, and evictions in Texas. You can listen to the full podcast here. 

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The Tablet Covers our Coronavirus G20, IMF and White House Letter

May 18, 2020

The Tablet covered Jubilee's faith community letter to the White House, G20 and IMF calling for expanded debt relief in the face of the coronavirus crisis. Read an excerpt below, and click here for the full story.

Debt relief needed to help poor nations in pandemic

Advocates for debt relief for the world's poorest countries are calling on international policymakers to cancel debt payments and expand debt relief for developing nations to bolster health care and protect vulnerable people and workers during the coronavirus pandemic.

The request from more than 100 organisations, including more than two dozen Catholic religious congregations, came in a letter to the International Monetary Fund, representatives of 20 industrial and emerging economies, or G-20 nations, and President Donald Trump.

It comes in advance of today's opening of the World Health Assembly, the decision-making body of the World Health Organisation. The global pandemic response will be the major item of business during the meeting, which was rescheduled to take place online.

Decisions by the assembly are likely to affect the upcoming G-20 and Group of Seven meetings this summer.

Eric LeCompte, executive director Jubilee USA, an alliance of faith-based development and advocacy groups that drafted the letter, said that action on canceling the debt would allow poor countries to devote more resources to respond to the pandemic.

The G-20 nations agreed to suspend debt payments owed to them by 76 of the world's poorest countries. The agreement covers payments through 2020.

Debt cancellation and the suspension of payments was one of four policies the advocates said were necessary to prevent a serious financial crisis from engulfing the world economy, LeCompte said.

Other issues raised in the letter include:

– Identifying additional revenues that nations can tap to respond to the economic and health impacts of the pandemic.
– Improving debt restructuring and implementing debt payment moratoria for countries affected by the coronavirus.
– Supporting all countries as they emerge from the crisis "with more resilience by encouraging policies and agreements to increase protections for the vulnerable, instil greater public budget transparency, implement financial crisis and market protections, promote responsible lending and borrowing, and curb corruption and tax evasion."

LeCompte said such steps would move a global economic recovery along and "protect all of us from financial crisis".

He added that he believed the actions would head off future financial crises that may be caused by another pandemic, economic upheaval or massive food shortage.

"If we don't have a process in place, we're just setting ourselves up for failure again," he said.

Pope Francis in his traditional Easter message "urbi et orbi" (to the city and the world) called for forgiveness, or at least a reduction, of the foreign debt of the world's poorest nations.

The pope also has established a Covid-19 response commission in the Dicastery for Integral Human Development to examine the challenges the world is facing in battling the pandemic and what it will inevitably face in its aftermath.

Among its tasks, the commission is reviewing debt of the world's poorest countries, joining the plea of Pope Francis and a wide variety of leaders in calling for debt relief,  either through the suspension of payments or an outright forgiveness of debt.

 

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Catholic News Service, Crux Features Jubilee USA and Eric LeCompte on Coronavirus Efforts

May 15, 2020

Catholic News Service interviewed Eric LeCompte on our faith community letter to world leaders calling for debt relief. Read an excerpt below, and click here for the full story. 

Advocates seek debt relief so poor nations can better respond to pandemic

CLEVELAND (CNS) -- Advocates for debt relief for the world's poorest countries are calling on international policymakers to cancel debt payments and expand debt relief for developing nations to bolster health care and protect vulnerable people and workers during the coronavirus pandemic.

The request from more than 100 organizations, including more than two dozen Catholic religious congregations, came in a May 15 letter to the International Monetary Fund, representatives of 20 industrial and emerging economies, or G-20 nations, and President Donald Trump.

It comes in advance of the May 18 opening of the World Health Assembly, the decision-making body of the World Health Organization. The global pandemic response will be the major item of business during the meeting, which was rescheduled to take place online.

Decisions by the assembly are likely to affect the upcoming G-20 and Group of Seven meetings this summer.

Eric LeCompte, executive director Jubilee USA, an alliance of faith-based development and advocacy groups that drafted the letter, told Catholic News Service that action on canceling the debt would allow poor countries to devote more resources to respond to the pandemic.

The G-20 nations agreed to suspend debt payments owed to them by 76 of the world's poorest countries. The agreement covers payments through 2020.

Debt cancellation and the suspension of payments was one of four policies the advocates said were necessary to prevent a serious financial crisis from engulfing the world economy, LeCompte said.

Other issues raised in the letter include:

-- Identifying additional revenues that nations can tap to respond to the economic and health impacts of the pandemic.

-- Improving debt restructuring and implementing debt payment moratoria for countries affected by the coronavirus.

-- Supporting all countries as they emerge from the crisis "with more resilience by encouraging policies and agreements to increase protections for the vulnerable, instill greater public budget transparency, implement financial crisis and market protections, promote responsible lending and borrowing, and curb corruption and tax evasion."

LeCompte said such steps would move a global economic recovery along and "protect all of us from financial crisis."

He added that he believed the actions would head off future financial crises that may be caused by another pandemic, economic upheaval or massive food shortage.

"If we don't have a process in place, we're just setting ourselves up for failure again," he said.

Pope Francis in his traditional Easter message "urbi et orbi" (to the city and the world) called for forgiveness, or at least a reduction, of the foreign debt of the world's poorest nations.

The pope also has established a COVID-19 response commission in the Dicastery for Integral Human Development to examine the challenges the world is facing in battling the pandemic and what it will inevitably face in its aftermath.

Among its tasks, the commission is reviewing debt of the world's poorest countries, joining the plea of Pope Francis and a wide variety of leaders in calling for debt relief -- either through the suspension of payments or an outright forgiveness of debt.

 

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Eric LeCompte Barron's Column on Coronavirus and Financial Crisis

May 08, 2020

Barron's invited Eric LeCompte to pen an op-ed on the coronavirus financial crisis and debt relief solutions. Read an excerpt below, and click here for the full story. 

The World’s Poor Are Drowning in Debt. Here’s How to Help Them.

The coronavirus is spurring the worst downturn since the Great Depression, warns the International Monetary Fund.The U.N. World Food Programme says 265 million more people now face famine.

The pandemic forces work stoppages, shutters factories, and eliminates tourism and travel. The International Labor Organization projects more than 195 million jobs lost. While governments lose revenue, they must increase spending to protect the poor and businesses.

High debts for many countries make it impossible to negotiate the corona crisis. The IMF and World Bank reported, prior to the virus, that 40% of low-income countries were already in debt crisis or held worrisome debt levels. Unsustainable debt leaves little space for countries that need to enact stimulus packages like the U.S. passed. Treasuries already lacked billions because of corruption, tax evasion, and tax avoidance.

More than 100 countries now request emergency IMF financing to deal with virus health and economic impacts.

Before Covid-19, too many health care systems were weak because of austerity policies in place to pay debt. In fact, most of the 76 poorest countries have fewer than 50 critical care units for millions of people. Some have none. Two-thirds of the world’s people who live in extreme poverty call these 76 countries home.

What are the short-term solutions to bolster global health care and survive a possible economic collapse?

The IMF, World Bank, G7, G20, and U.N. are debating solutions.

While the IMF provides rapid, below market-rate loans to a growing number of countries, more resources will be needed. One answer is found in our response to the 2008 financial crisis. We accessed $250 billion in global reserves, also known as the special drawing rights or SDRs.

There are growing calls for the IMF and G20 to allocate a trillion in new SDRs to low-income and middle-income countries. This is doable and could provide immediate resources to developing countries to strengthen health care and to pass the bridge financing needed to support workers and the poor. With few short-term options, this proved effective before and we should do it again.

We’ve seen other powerful short-term actions led by the U.S. Treasury, G20, IMF, and World Bank on debt relief. In April, the IMF cancelled six months of debt payments for the world’s 25 poorest countries, and G20 countries agreed to stop collecting debt for 73 countries through 2020. Countries that count their budgets in the tens of millions now have $22 billion to confront the coronavirus.

Is it enough?

African finance ministers are calling for $44 billion in debt relief. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development calls for a trillion dollars in debt cancellation for countries to survive.

In the absence of an actual system to globally adjudicate all types of debt, like the bankruptcy processes we have in our own domestic economies, moving forward debt restructuring in the best interest of both the lender and borrower seems challenging.

Still, in the short term there are signs that political will is growing to relieve more debt. The IMF and World Bank closed their April meetings with a historical bang, committing to look at debt relief for middle-income countries and other countries that might need it as the crisis deepens. The G20 and IMF called all other types of creditors (banks, private and commercial) to negotiate debt payment suspensions. Again, the challenge is that without the formal bankruptcy that we have in our home countries, you can’t make sure every debt holder comes to the party.

However, in the short term, the IMF, G7, and G20 can make decisions that move us toward more predictable bankruptcy-like processes. The G7 countries house the financial jurisdictions that arbitrate most of the world’s private sovereign debt. Changes to laws in New York and London can ensure private creditors accept invitations to debt-settlement soirees.

If we treat the 2020 debt-payment moratorium for 73 countries like the first phase of bankruptcy, we have breathing space to figure out if it’s possible to pay debts, strengthen health care, and reduce child poverty. The IMF committed to review debt problems. June and July G7 and G20 meetings can set the stage to relieve and restructure debt. These meetings are the opportunity to review the need for further debt relief for the developing middle-income countries as well.

After past crises, we’ve flirted with global, comprehensive bankruptcy processes.

In the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis in the early 2000s, the U.S. Treasury and IMF supported a bankruptcy process known as the Sovereign Debt Resolution Mechanism that failed to be implemented. As we recovered from the 2008 financial crisis and wrestled with financial crises in Argentina and Greece, world leaders briefly again entertained a process. The United Nations General Assembly even passed a bankruptcy process in 2014, but it wasn’t binding.

The father of modern economics, Adam Smith, advocated for such a process. Pope Francis supports this arbitration mechanism.

There were moments when we learned the lesson of exporting bankruptcy beyond our domestic borders. The 1953 London Accord brought all stakeholders together to restructure Germany’s debt in a process fair to creditors and debtors, a process creating the path for one of the strongest economies that ever existed. While never adequately used, super bankruptcy measures were passed for Puerto Rico by the Republican-led Congress in 2016.

My organization, Jubilee USA Network, has won more than $130 billion of debt relief for developing economies since the early 2000s to increase social spending on health and education. Many of those same countries were again in debt crisis before this pandemic hit. Our name, Jubilee, comes from scripture sacred to Jews and Christians about a continual promised process, beyond debt relief to ensure that in times of peace or crisis, we all are protected from having too little or too much.

As we plan to emerge from this crisis, with wisdom to prevent the next crisis, will we move beyond debt relief and accept the promise of Jubilee?

 

Read more here. 

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Buenos Aires Times, Pagina12 Cover Eric LeCompte Argentina Debt Plan Support

May 06, 2020

Pagina12 and the Buenos Aires Times covered Eric LeCompte and other top economist's support of the newly proposed Argentina debt plan. Read an excerpt below, and click here and here for the full stories.

High-profile economists back Argentina's debt restructuring bid

The full name of signatories: Jeffrey D. Sachs, Columbia University; Dani Rodrik, Harvard Kennedy School; Thomas Piketty, School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences; Mariana Mazzucato, University College London; Kenneth Rogoff, former IMF chief economist and Harvard University; Brad Setser, Council on Foreign Relations; Ricardo Hausmann, former IADB Chief Economist and Harvard Kennedy School; Carlos Ominami, former Economy Minister, Chile; Yu Yongding, former member of the Monetary Policy Committee, People’s Bank of China; Erik Berglof, former EBRD chief economist and London School of Economics; Nora Lustig, Tulane University; Nelson Barbosa, former Minister of Finance and Planning; Justin Yifu Lin, former World Bank chief economist and Peking University; Partha Dasgupta, University of Cambridge; Kevin P. Gallagher, Boston University; Stephany Griffith-Jones, Columbia University; Stephanie Blankenburg, UNCTAD; Richard Kozul-Wright, UNCTAD; Ricardo French Davis, University of Chile; James K. Galbraith, University of Texas; Jean-Paul Fitoussi, Sciences Po; Amar Bhattacharya, Brookings Institution; Robert Boyer, National Scientific Research Council; Robert Pollin, University of Massachusetts-Amherst; Robert Howse, NYU Law; Giovanni Dosi, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna; Juan Carlos Moreno Brid, National Autonomous University of Mexico; Josh Bivens, Economic Policy Institute; Arjun Jayadev, Azim Premji University; David Soskice, London School of Economics; Jayati Ghosh, Professor of Economics, Jawaharlal Nehru University; Mauro Gallegati, Università Politecnica Delle Marche; Natalya Naqvi, London School of Economics; Daniela Gabor, UWE Bristol; Marcus Miller, University of Warwick; John E. Roemer, Yale University; William H. Janeway, University of Cambridge; Dean Baker, Center for Economic and Policy Research and University of Utah; Gerald Epstein, University of Massachusetts-Amherst; Anwar Shaikh, New School University; Kaushik Basu, Cornell University; Matias Vernengo, Bucknell University; Philippe Aghion, London School of Economics; Anne Laure Delatte, Centre d’Etudes Prospectives et d’Informations Internationales; Sudhir Anand, London School of Economics; Christoph Trebesch, University of Kiel; John Weeks, University of London; David Vines, University of Oxford; Saskia Sassen, Columbia University; Sandra Polaski, Boston University; Thomas Pogge, Yale University; Rhys Jenkins, University of East Anglia; Jurgen Kaiser, Jubilee Germany; Gary A. Dymski, University of Leeds; Andreas Antoniades, University of Sussex; Raphael Kaplinsky, University of Sussex; Diane Elson, University of Essex; Ernst Stetter, former secretary general, Foundation for European Progressive Studies; Ozlem Onaran, University of Greenwich; Todd Howland, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights; Isabel Ortiz, Columbia University; Carolina Alves, University of Cambridge; Eric LeCompte, Jubilee USA Network; Richard Jolly, University of Sussex; Christoph Trebesch, University of Kiel; Diego Sanchez-Ancochea, University of Oxford; Mark Weisbrot, Center for Economic and Policy Research; Lara Merling, International Trade Union Confederation; Pedro Mendes Loureiro, University of Cambridge; Ilene Grabel, University of Denver; Sabri Öncü, CAFRAL; David Hall, University of Greenwich; Jose Esteban Castro, Newcastle University; Andy McKay, University of Sussex; Stefano Prato, Society for International Development; Rosemary Thorp, University of Oxford; Barry Herman, The New School for Public Engagement; Andres Aruaz, former Minister of Knowledge and Central Bank General Director, Ecuador; Manuel Alcántara, University of Salamanca; Alex Izurieta, UNCTAD; Michael Cichon, UNU Maastricht; Biswajit Dhar, Jawaharlal Nehru University; Jens Martens, Global Policy Forum; Nicolas Pons-Vignon, University of the Witwatersrand; Jean Saldanha, European Network on Debt and Development (Eurodad); Leonidas Vatikiotis, Debtfree Project; Valpy FitzGerald, University of Oxford; Giovanni Andrea Cornia, University of Florence; Matthias Thiemann, Sciences Po; Yılmaz Akyüz, former chief economist, South Centre, Geneva; Stephan Schulmeister, University of Vienna; Eduardo Strachman, São Paulo State University; Peter Dorman, Evergreen State College; C.P. Chandrasekhar, Jawaharlal Nehru University; Leopoldo Rodriguez, Portland State University; Chris Tilly, University of California Los Angeles; Tracy Mott, University of Denver; Jeffrey Madrick, Schwartz Rediscovering Government Initiative; Günseli Berik, University of Utah; Joseph Ricciardi, Babson College; Lorenzo Pellegrini, Erasmus University Rotterdam; Erinc Yeldan, Bilkent University; Sunil Ashra, Management Development Institute; Mustafa Özer, Anadolu University, Turkey; Rolph van der Hoeven, Erasmus University Rotterdam; Al Campbell, University of Utah; Antonella Palumbo, Università Roma Tre; Arthur MacEwan, University of Massachusetts Boston; Neva Goodwin, Tufts University; Korkut Boratav, Turkish Social Science Association; Michael Ash, University of Massachusetts-Amherst; Alicia Puyana, Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales, Mexico; John Willoughby, American University; Marco Palacios, El Colegio de Mexico; Reza Mazhari, Gonbad Gavous University, Iran; Ann Markusen, University of Minnesota; Renee Prendergast, Queens University; Michael Moore, University of Warwick; Carlos A. Carrasco, Universidad de Monterrey, Mexico; Robert Lynch, Washington College; John Schmitt, Economic Policy Institute; Venkatesh Athreya, Bharathidasan University; Jeff Faux, Economic Policy Institute; Kunibert Raffer, University of Vienna; Jenik Radon, Columbia University; Maria Joao Rodrigues, Foundation for European Progressive Studies; Stephanie Seguino, University of Vermont; Gustavo Indart, University of Toronto; Cyrus Bina, University of Minnesota; Alberto Minujin, The New School; Philip Alston, NYU; Sudhir Anand, London School of Economics; José Gabriel Palma, Cambridge University; Michael A. Cohen, The New School; Jeff Powell, University of Greenwich; and Rob Johnson, President, INET.  

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SwissInfo Quotes Eric LeCompte on Emergency IMF Ecuador Credit

May 02, 2020

SwissInfo quotes Eric LeCompte on the IMF's emergency Ecuador credit for COVID-19 mitigation efforts. Read an excerpt below, and click here for the full story.

FMI da crédito de emergencia a Ecuador azotado por Covid y bajos precios del crudo

Eric LeCompte de la organización Jubilee USA Network señaló que "debido a las altas deudas y a las políticas de austeridad, países como Ecuador, no pueden dar servicios de salud básicos para afrontar el coronavirus".

"Y mucho menos para ayudar a su pueblo a sobrevivir este desastre económico", sentenció LeCompte en un comunicado.


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Rome News-Tribune Quotes Eric LeCompte on Global Financial Crisis

April 28, 2020

The Rome News-Tribune featured Eric LeCompte's thoughts on the COVID-19 global recession and the potential impact on Latin America and Caribbean. Read an excerpt below, and click here for the full story.

Coronavirus could push Latin America, Caribbean into deepest recession since 1930s

But the only country in the region that might benefit from that measure is Haiti, said Eric LeCompte, a United Nations finance expert and director of the Jubilee USA Network, a religious development group that has been a longtime advocate for debt forgiveness.

“Many of the Latin American and Caribbean countries don’t qualify for any type of debt relief measure because they are considered too wealthy,” LeCompte said. “We’d like to see it extended to Ecuador, Bolivia, Grenada, Jamaica and other countries that could benefit from a debt standstill but need even more relief.”

And even what might be offered to Haiti isn’t enough, donors said, given the nation’s fragile economic state. During a recent emergency meeting of the CARICOM bloc of Caribbean countries, leaders agreed to lobby the G20 and international finance institutions for full-fledged debt write-offs and emergency funding for the rest of the Caribbean.

Also this month, the International Monetary Fund began offering below-market-rate emergency loans that might allow some countries to bolster health services or provide U.S.-style stimulus packages to keep workers employed. For many nations it’s simply piling debt on top of unsustainable debt, LeCompte said, but “it’s better than nothing.”

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