UN Forum Wrestles with Economic Policies 10 Years After Financial Crisis Islands Call for Debt Relief Ahead of Next Hurricane Season

international | economics and finance | press release Tuesday April 24, 2018 20:47 by Jubilee USA

Officials from governments, the IMF, World Bank, the private sector and NGOs meet this week at the United Nations for the Financing for Development (FFD) Forum.

Officials from governments, the IMF, World Bank, the private sector and NGOs meet this week at the United Nations for the Financing for Development (FFD) Forum. The annual gathering seeks to implement the Addis Ababa Action Agenda that governments endorsed in 2015 in Ethiopia.

"These meetings are critical to address the root causes of poverty and raise revenue in the developing world," said Jubilee USA Executive Director Eric LeCompte. LeCompte has participated in FFD negotiations since 2012. "Better policies on tax, debt, trade and transparency issues are critical for lifting people out of poverty."

During the forum, public statements and private negotiations focus on new debt relief processes for Caribbean and small islands ahead of the next hurricane season. Islands from Dominica to Barbuda are still recovering from the 2017 hurricane season.

"There is growing consensus among a number of decision making bodies to put in place permanent debt relief processes to protect small islands when that are hit by natural disasters," noted Eric LeCompte who supported similar processes at the IMF. "We must all act quickly as the next hurricane season begins in just a few weeks."

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