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STORY: UN / DEBT SUSTAINABILITY
TRT: 03:36
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / SPANISH / NATS
DATELINE: 15 APRIL 2024, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, UN Headquarters
15 APRIL 2024, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, General Assembly Hall
3. Wide shot, GA President Dennis Francis at the rostrum
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Dennis Francis, President, General Assembly, United Nations:
“The debt crisis is, in fact, a development crisis and one that permeates the global South. In 2023, global public debt reached an astounding $313 trillion. Public debt has risen more rapidly in developing countries than in developed countries. With developing countries, external debt stocks hitting $11.4 trillion.”
5. Wide shot, Francis at the rostrum
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Dennis Francis, President, General Assembly, United Nations:
“Ultimately, achieving debt sustainability and socioeconomic equity necessitates a well-coordinated, multilateral effort to reshape and reform the international financial architecture, especially the international financial institutions, so that they can better support and facilitate sustainable development in the Global South.”
7. Wide shot, GA
8. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“For developing countries, a world of debt means a world of pain. They are struggling to climb development ladder with one hand tied behind their backs.”
9. Wide shot, Guterres at the rostrum
10. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“The global economy is crawling to the end of its slowest five year gross period since the early nineties. The Covid-19 pandemic and the global impact of the war in Ukraine slammed the brakes on growth and exhausted fiscal space. Before developing countries could catch their breath, a global cost of living crisis and post-pandemic inflationary shock set in. Today, we face an estimated financing gap of up to 4 trillion US dollars annually to reach the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.”
11. Wide shot, Guterres at the rostrum
12. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“These institutions were designed by the richest developed countries and remain dominated by them. Today, many developing countries are stranded in the Bretton Woods system without a map.”
13. Wide shot, ECOSOC President Paula Narváez at the rostrum
14. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Paula Narváez, President, Economic and Social Council, United Nations:
“The financial gap has resulted in a development gap, severely affecting development possibilities and the achievement of the SDGs, leaving scars that could be fatal to global ambitions. Faced with these challenges, it is essential that the international community collaborate towards the construction of a debt architecture oriented to development.”:
15. Wide shot, UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner at the rostrum
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Achim Steiner, Administrator, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP):
“Credit agencies do not work only on mathematical or indeed financial statistics. The majority of their rating is based on subjective assessments, which translates into literally hundreds of billions of dollars of higher interest rates paid by developing countries. Our international financial system, not just the architecture, may not be entirely broken, but if it continues along these lines, then indeed. Mr. President, your invitation today to reflect on debt sustainability and socio-economic equality will continue to head in the wrong direction.”
15. Wide shot, GA applause
The Secretary-General and President of the General Assembly today (15 Apr) led the clarion call for urgent reform of the global financial system, notably how to approach debt relief on behalf of the billions of citizens living in the developing world.
Dennis Francis, President of the body’s 78th session, emphasized the worsening inequalities between richer and poorer nations.
Francis said, “the debt crisis is, in fact, a development crisis and one that permeates the global South.”
He noted that public debt “has risen more rapidly in developing countries than in developed countries. With developing countries, external debt stocks hitting $11.4 trillion.”
The GA President said, “ultimately, achieving debt sustainability and socioeconomic equity necessitates a well-coordinated, multilateral effort to reshape and reform the international financial architecture, especially the international financial institutions, so that they can better support and facilitate sustainable development in the Global South.”
Secretary-General António Guterres underscored the need for a lifeline so developing countries can pull themselves out of debt.
Guterres said, “for developing countries, a world of debt means a world of pain. They are struggling to climb development ladder with one hand tied behind their backs.”
The Secretary-General pointed out that “the global economy is crawling to the end of its slowest five year gross period since the early 90s,” and said the Covid-19 pandemic and war in Ukraine had “slammed the brakes on growth and exhausted fiscal space.”
Before developing countries “could catch their breath,” he said, “a global cost of living crisis and post-pandemic inflationary shock set in.”
Guterres said, Bretton Woods institutions “were designed by the richest developed countries and remain dominated by them,” and stressed that “today, many developing countries are stranded in the Bretton Woods system without a map.”
The Secretary-General told Members States that the SDG Stimulus programme he proposed last February, must now be brought to life.
The Stimulus aims to secure $500 billion annually in extra financing from the world’s most developed nations, to meet the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Also addressing the meeting, the President of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), Paula Narváez, said, “the financial gap has resulted in a development gap, severely affecting development possibilities and the achievement of the SDGs, leaving scars that could be fatal to global ambitions. Faced with these challenges, it is essential that the international community collaborate towards the construction of a debt architecture oriented to development.”:
For his part, the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Achim Steiner, said, “credit agencies do not work only on mathematical or indeed financial statistics. The majority of their rating is based on subjective assessments, which translates into literally hundreds of billions of dollars of higher interest rates paid by developing countries. Our international financial system, not just the architecture, may not be entirely broken, but if it continues along these lines, then indeed. Mr. President, your invitation today to reflect on debt sustainability and socio-economic equality will continue to head in the wrong direction.”
Convened by the President of the General Assembly, the debate on debt sustainability and socioeconomic equality for all, marked the first high-level discussion as part of the world body’s first ever Sustainability Week.
