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STORY: UN / DEBT RECOMMENDATIONS
TRT: 03:33
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 27 JUNE 2025, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE – NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, UN headquarters
27 JUNE 2025, NEW YORK CITY
2. Various shots, press briefing room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Amina Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General, United Nations:
“Ten years after countries adopted the SDGs, development, of course, faces many headwinds. It's slowing global growth, the threat of trade war and repeated global shocks and climate and conflict, but the most unsettling challenge for many developing countries is a debt crisis. Borrowing is critical for development. We all know that, and it does provide a means to governments to invest boldly in a better future for their people.”
4. Wide shot, press briefing room
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Amina Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General, United Nations:
“Today, borrowing is not working for many developing countries. Over two thirds of our low income countries are either in debt distress or at a higher risk of it. 3.4 billion people live in countries that spend more on interest payments than on health or on education, and the debt crisis is a silent crisis in two respects. First, the crisis doesn't impact the lives or economies of those in advanced economies. The immediate effects of the crisis are contained, and they don't necessarily threaten accessibility of the global financial markets. But second - among global policy makers, there's a striking reluctance to allow or acknowledge the crisis for what it is, perhaps driven by the increasingly unlikely hope that the problem will solve itself if interest rates come down.”
6. Med shot, journalist
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Amina Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General, United Nations:
“This is why the Secretary General appointed an expert group in December to try to identify solutions to end the silent crisis and to make borrowing work for sustainable development. Today we publish their recommendations. Their report makes the case that an end to the debt crisis is entirely feasible if opportunities are seized. The experts identify a collection of actions that are not only moonshots, but politically and technically viable. The actions are aimed both at delivering short term impact and relieving pressures on indebted countries and long term change by expanding access to long term affordable financing.
8. Wide shot, press briefing room
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Rebeca Grynspan, Secretary-General, UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD):
“The situation has deteriorated from last year to this year, and that's why this is so important. With respect to the FFD4, let me give only three numbers to you. The global debt crisis has deepened. Last year, 3.3 billion people were living in countries, like the DSG said, that spend more on interest payments than on health or education. This year, that number is 3.4 billion. Last year, developing countries paid 847 billion US dollars in debt service. This year it is 921 billion. And last year the financing goal to achieve the sustainable development goals was approaching 4 trillion. This year it has surpassed that mark. So these are not only worsening numbers. This is the development going backwards.”
10. Wide shot, end of press briefing
“The debt crisis is a silent crisis,” UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed warned, as the United Nations unveiled new recommendations aimed at tackling the deepening financial burden facing developing countries.
Speaking to reporters today (27Jun), Mohammed said, “Ten years after countries adopted the SDGs, development, of course, faces many headwinds,” she said, citing “slowing global growth, the threat of trade war and repeated global shocks and climate and conflict.” But she stressed, “the most unsettling challenge for many developing countries is a debt crisis.”
While borrowing remains essential for development, Mohammed noted, “Today, borrowing is not working for many developing countries. Over two thirds of our low-income countries are either in debt distress or at a higher risk of it.”
The human cost is mounting. “3.4 billion people live in countries that spend more on interest payments than on health or on education,” she added.
Mohammed described the debt crisis as “silent” for two reasons, “First, the crisis doesn't impact the lives or economies of those in advanced economies... But second - among global policy makers, there's a striking reluctance to allow or acknowledge the crisis for what it is.”
In response, the Secretary-General last December appointed an expert group to chart a way forward. “Today we publish their recommendations,” Mohammed announced. “The report makes the case that an end to the debt crisis is entirely feasible if opportunities are seized.”
The proposed actions, she emphasized, are “not only moonshots, but politically and technically viable,” offering both short-term relief and long-term access to affordable financing.
Also addressing reporters, Rebeca Grynspan, Secretary-General of UNCTAD, underscored the worsening outlook. “The situation has deteriorated from last year to this year, and that's why this is so important,” she said, pointing to figures.
“Last year, 3.3 billion people were living in countries... that spend more on interest payments than on health or education. This year, that number is 3.4 billion. Last year, developing countries paid 847 billion US dollars in debt service. This year it is 921 billion,” she said.
Grynspan added that the financing gap to meet the Sustainable Development Goals has now “surpassed” 4 trillion dollars, warning, “These are not only worsening numbers. This is the development going backwards.”
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