Key to Resolving Covid’s Global Debt Crunch: Transparency
The number of low-income countries eligible for debt-service relief has doubled in the last decade. Here’s how to help them.
Trying to help.
Photographer: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images
The Covid-19 pandemic and the accompanying economic lockdowns have deepened inequality both within national borders and across the globe. Many low-income countries have suffered a severe economic contraction that has derailed budgets and created urgent financing needs. This has exacerbated debt-sustainability concerns, which were already high on the eve of the pandemic.
Today, more than half of low-income countries eligible for relief under the Group of 20’s Debt Service Suspension Initiative are either in debt distress or at high risk, doubling in the last decade.