As the Senate and House tax plans head to conference committee to reconcile tax plan differences, major religious leaders from Puerto Rico are asking Congress to protect the island from new proposed ‎taxes. Metropolitan Archbishop Roberto O. González Nieves, OFM of the Catholic Archdiocese San Juan de Puerto Rico and Puerto Rico Bible Society Secretary, Reverend Heriberto Martínez-Rivera wrote to Congress with their concerns.

"If Congress treats American citizens living in Puerto Rico differently than American citizens living in the 50 States by treating our island as a foreign jurisdiction, we believe recovery for our island home will be nearly impossible," wrote González and Martínez-Rivera in their letter to Congress.  "We respectfully request that all Members of Congress ensure that a final tax reform plan does not impose new excise taxes on Puerto Rico."

Working with Jubilee USA and US religious groups, the Archbishop and Evangelical leader have engaged Congress for nearly two years to move policies that promote economic growth and reduce the island's crippling debt load and high child poverty rate. In the recent letter they wrote to Congress, they ‎noted that tens of thousands of American jobs could be lost in Puerto Rico if the Senate and House conference committee did not strip the excise tax from final legislation.

"If Congress fails to remove this excise tax in their final tax package, it is just like hitting Puerto Rico with another hurricane," said Jubilee USA Director Eric LeCompte who advises Puerto Rico's religious leaders and serves on United Nation expert groups. "Before the hurricanes, we were dealing with a severe financial crisis and almost half of all Puerto Rican kids were living in poverty. We are now dealing with a full blown humanitarian crisis that Congress can make better or even worse."‎

Read Archbishop González and Reverend Martínez-Rivera's letter to Congress. 

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

Read Eric LeCompte's statement on the crisis

Read religious leaders' statement in English, en español 

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) joins other religious and development groups in their call for ‎debt relief for hurricane-battered Caribbean islands. In a letter to the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the USCCB wrote, "Natural disasters in countries with extremely at-risk economies, like Antigua and Barbuda and others in the Caribbean, can wreak catastrophic and paralyzing impacts on their prospects for further development—including their ability to service their debt responsibly."‎ The letter echoed calls from Caribbean Catholic Bishops to temporarily stop debt payments so that troubled islands can recover.

"No island should be making debt payments until they can recover, whether we are talking about US territories like Puerto Rico or ‎countries like Dominica," noted Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of the religious development group Jubilee USA.

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, President of the USCCB and Bishop Oscar Cantú, Chairman of the Committee on International Justice and Peace for USCCB, sent the letter to the IMF just after Bishop Gabriel Malzaire, Bishop of Roseau and President of the Antilles Episcopal Conference did the same. Malzaire sent the letter after Hurricane Irma tore through the Caribbean, but before Hurricane Marie struck his home island of Dominica.

"Sadly, since multiple hurricanes have ravaged the Caribbean, there are many islands in need of immediate aid. Delaying debt payments is one of the fastest ways to move money into recovery and reconstruction efforts," noted LeCompte who serves on UN expert working group‎s that focus on financial crisis.

Every street and every town in Dominica, home to roughly 73,000 people, was affected according to the island's Prime Minister, Roosevelt Skerrit who lost his own home. Dominica's government says the island is currently without running water and electricity. Power outages are occurring across hurricane-struck islands. The US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico are struggling to regain power. ‎Puerto Rico's power company stated that it could take 4 to 6 months to get power fully back in the US territory.

"The US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico need to ‎focus on the emergency needs of their people, not debt payments," said LeCompte. "Congress, creditors and the territory governments all have a responsibility to free the US citizens on the islands of debt as they recover from these hurricanes."

Read the USCCB's Letter to the IMF

Read Jubilee USA's Letter to the IMF

Read Bishop Gabriel Malzaire's Letter to the IMF

Read Jubilee USA's Petition for Hurricanes Irma and Maria

Caribbean islands recovering from Hurricane Irma, now confront Hurricane Maria. According to initial reports, Hurricane Maria leveled parts of the island of Dominica. As of Tuesday morning, the Category 5 storm heads towards Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. At a high-level event at the United Nations General Assembly, Jubilee USA's Executive Director Eric LeCompte called for a debt payment delay for hurricane-struck islands.

"A quick way to get rebuilding aid for islands affected by hurricanes is to temporarily stop debt payments," said LeCompte, Jubilee USA's Executive Director who serves on United Nation expert groups that focus on debt. "If the International Monetary Fund delays debt payments, it would immediately free up millions of dollars for islands trying to recover."

Last week, the Catholic Bishop of Dominica sent a letter to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) asking for debt relief for islands recovering from disasters. As president of a conference of Caribbean Catholic Bishops, Gabriel Malzaire had called for relief for other Caribbean islands, like Antigua and Barbuda that were hit hard by Hurricane Irma. The Bishop's letter is now relevant for Dominica as it seeks funds to recover.

"Islands like Dominica and Antigua and Barbuda need immediate financing," continued LeCompte. "In addition to delaying debt payments, islands need aid in the form of grants instead of loans."

As the UN General Assembly debate begins, Eric LeCompte spoke at a high-level side event on financing development. LeCompte spoke about improving global debt, tax, trade and transparency policies to address poverty. The event was organized by the government of France and the International Leading Group on Social and Solidarity Economy.

Read Eric LeCompte's Speech at the UN

Read Bishop Gabriel Malzaire's Letter to the IMF

Read Jubilee USA's Petition for Hurricanes Irma and Maria

See the Program for the High-Level UN Event

Ahead of President Trump's first G20 meeting in Germany this weekend, Mozambique released an audit exposing violations of the country's laws to secure now-defaulted loans. Nearly $2 billion in loans were secured by the government of Mozambique but hidden from the public and Parliament. Last week, Business Insider reviewed CIA data and ranked Mozambique as one of the most indebted countries in the world. The United Nations Development Programme ‎lists Mozambique as one of the least developed countries in the world at 181 out of 188 countries. 

“We know that the financial crisis in Mozambique was caused by corruption at the national and international level,” said Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of the religious development group Jubilee USA. “It seems a group of Mozambique's leaders and creditors conspired to steal from some of the world's poorest people.”

The financial scandal and debt crisis facing Mozambique will be discussed in Hamburg by G20 leaders in the context of new responsible lending and borrowing guidelines during their annual two day meeting. Finance Ministers for the Group of 20 supported these "Operational Guidelines for Sustainable Financing" at their March meeting in Baden-Baden, Germany.

“The G20 is calling on its member countries to pass stronger laws to stop corruption and enforce responsible lending and borrowing,” said LeCompte who serves on United Nation debt expert groups. “While the new G20 guidelines fall short on determining whether or not a country's debt is sustainable, the guidelines are progress in protecting vulnerable people from economic crisis."

The Operational Guidelines for Sustainable Financing are available here. 

The Executive Summary of the audit of Mozambique is available here. 
 

The Puerto Rico power utility PREPA, filed for bankruptcy protection under the Title III process created by the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA).

Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of the religious development group Jubilee USA, releases the following statement:

"It's important that Puerto Rico's power utility filed for Title III bankruptcy protection. We can expect a more favorable debt restructuring for the people of Puerto Rico than the previous debt deal.

"In order for Puerto Rico to get out of this crisis, all debt should be dealt with through one comprehensive process. This is another reason that it is good news ‎that PREPA files under the same process that is being used to resolve most of the island's debt."