Eurodad, along with more than 500 other organisations from 96 countries, have called on world leaders attending the virtual IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings, along with the G30 Finance Ministers Meeting, to cancel debts, including those owed to private creditors.

Under the auspices of the Global Week of Action on Debt Cancellation, the civil society coalition sent an open letter to governments, international institutions and lender groups ahead of the G20 Finance Ministers meeting and the IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings.

Over US$ 300bn is spent annually by lower-income countries on debt repayments and there are growing calls for more action to be taken so that countries can invest in vital healthcare spending and support their economies during the pandemic. However, despite repeated calls from civil society, there has been only a partial suspension of bilateral (country to country debt) has been included in the DSSI, private lenders and the World Bank are yet to offer any debt suspension or cancellation.

Yesterday (14 October), the G20 announced a six-month extension to their Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) and extended the period of debt payments suspension from four years to six years. But as we noted in our reaction, "without a multilateral, fair and transparent framework for debt resolution, countries in debt distress are and will be caught between creditor disputes, which are already increasing the economic and social costs of debt crisis resolution, while the pandemic and its economic consequences remain to be addressed."

• Read the open letter in English
• Lea la carta abierta en español
• Lisez la lettre ouverte en français