December 4, 2020
The EU’s Global Recovery Initiative: A Paper Tiger or the Markings of a Geopolitical Commission?
This blog sets out the EU’s position as an international creditor and offer thoughts for what role the EU could play in debt relief.
Views from the Center
November 30, 2020
Sustaining Low-Income Countries’ Progress Towards the SDGs in a Post-COVID 19 World: What is Achievable?
Following on from the “Financing Low-Income Countries: Towards Realistic Aspirations and Concrete Actions in a Post-COVID World" conference in October, Mark Plant and Sudhir Shetty outline some of the key themes discussed at the conference.
September 9, 2020
Measuring ODA: Four Strange Features of the New DAC Debt Relief Rules
This blog briefly describes the OECD DAC's new rules for debt relief, and four features that may not satisfy critics of the new system.
July 27, 2020
Addressing Private Sector Debt through Sustainable Bond Guarantees
The latest G20 finance ministers meeting concluded with no major progress on debt relief for the world’s poorest countries, and a few setbacks. To date, no country eligible for the G20’s Debt Service Suspension Initiative has requested a moratorium on their private sector debt. We are at an impasse.
June 23, 2020
Welcome Transparency on Debt from the World Bank
The World Bank has just released country-by-country data on the debt owed to individual creditors by the 73 countries eligible to participate in the G20-sponsored debt service suspension initiative.
June 4, 2020
More World Bank Borrowers Will Need Grants, Not Loans. As a Result, More World Bank Donors Will Need to Pony Up
Rather than providing relief on repayments from existing loans, IDA’s debt sustainability framework adjusts future financing from loans to grants for countries at high risk of debt distress. But what happens to IDA’s loans-to-grants model when a large number of IDA countries trigger the risk thresholds? Can IDA afford its commitment to debt sustainability?
April 16, 2020
Revisiting HIPC as Part of the COVID-19 Response: How did Commercial Debt Relief for Poorest Countries Work Last Time?
The G20 is calling on commercial creditors to follow their lead and extend a moratorium on their debt. But if past is precedent external commercial debt could be shaping up to be major fault line in the debt relief process moving forward.
April 2, 2020
In Global COVID-19 Response, New CGD Research Shows China Should Lead on Poor Country Debt Relief
In new research, we find that China’s role as a creditor has likely been a key driver of more burdensome lending terms in the form of higher interest rates, shorter maturities, and shorter grace periods for lower-income countries.
March 24, 2020
5 Principles on the Uses and Misuses of Debt Relief to Address the Coronavirus Pandemic
Debt relief for low-income countries is on the table of measures to consider for coronavirus response. The imperative right now is to get cash to LICs as quickly as possible. Suspending some debt service payments may be a good first step in freeing up some budget space for new spending. Beyond that, protracted debt-relief negotiations with multilateral and commercial creditors right now could be a distraction at best but could also actively undermine the ability of institutions like the World Bank to offer new financing for crisis response.
March 18, 2020
Coronavirus Response: Addressing the Near-Term Financing Needs of Low-Income Countries
The experience of the 2007 global financial crisis can tell us a few things about how low-income countries could be affected by the coronavirus pandemic in the near term, even as we recognize that the myriad economic problems created by the pandemic are almost certainly greater in number and scale than the problems in 2007.
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