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.

In this second part of our blog series on Covid-19 from a feminist perspective, we look at what needs to be considered when designing policy responses to the Covid-19 socio-economic crisis.

Read part one

In this first part of our blog series on Covid-19 from a feminist perspective, we look at how the pandemic is impacting women and girls and deepening gender divides.

Read part two

As countries face the difficult challenge of recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic, civil society is calling on the IMF to finally close the gap between its rhetoric and practice by no longer recommending austerity measures in long-term loan programmes.

The use of private sector instruments (PSI) has raised many questions regarding its ability to reach those most in need. Through this blog, we provide an overview of the findings of a new Eurodad report analysing the latest PSI data. 

Download the full report

While Covid-19 has had a limited impact on the health of Grenada's population, the economic impact of the virus has been devastating. 

Nepal has been caught in a blizzard of economic and health challenges caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Like other countries in the global south, it has received insufficient and inadequate support to tackle these challenges. The consequences of the lack of international solidarity are being felt by the most vulnerable people across the country.

The body in charge of maintaining and improving the quality, comparability and relevance of DAC statistics on development cooperation will meet informally this week. Civil society is calling for greater transparency when it comes to reporting debt relief as ODA.