Shadow report on the limitations of the G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative: Draining out the Titanic with a bucket?

• OECD preliminary figures for 2020 show donors still failing to reach commitment to spend 0.7% of GNI on ODA
• Loans are on the increase

Eurodad Director Jean Saldanha reflects on the 2021 World Bank and IMF Spring Meetings.

According to the Financial Times and other news media, the US Administration has put forward specific proposals for the design of future global tax standards, which are currently being negotiated within the OECD-led “Inclusive Framework”.

We are at a crucial juncture. Global discussions on how to respond to low- and middle-income countries’ increasing debt burdens could lead us to a prolonged debt crisis in the global south, especially in Africa, or to game-changing debt architecture reform. The question is: What path will high-income countries choose?

• The publication of the World Banks’ 2021 Doing Business Report was stopped in August 2020 following a scandal that uncovered data manipulation and altered scores in four countries.
• As a result of these irregularities, Saudi Arabia was named the top improving economy of 2020 around the time of the “Davos in the Desert” summit and a year after the Khashoggi murder.
• The World Bank has launched another review of the Doing Business methodology and is finally seeking feedback from CSOs, but for a meaningful and participatory consultation it must extend the deadline for feedback and organise a follow-up discussion.

The Covid-19 crisis threatens to erode two-decades' of progress on poverty reduction in Bangladesh. This difficult situation highlights the need for a more ambitious response to the crisis.