Debt Data

This report critically explores the IMF’s consumption tax policies and their adverse effects on borrower nations, particularly in Africa and the Global South. It examines how the IMF’s emphasis on consumption taxes like VAT, when used as a tool for revenue mobilization, often leads to regressive outcomes by exacerbating inequality, increasing poverty, and contributing to unsustainable public debt. Through an analysis of the global debt architecture evolution and a review of IMF-backed tax reforms across various regions, the report highlights the disconnect between the IMF’s policy prescriptions and the socio-economic realities of developing countries. The study underscores the need for reforming the international debt architecture to address the negative impacts of these policies and proposes recommendations for more equitable and sustainable debt and tax solutions.

In this quarterly report, I argue that the climate crisis has provided theglobal finance industry an opportunity to make exorbitant profits frommajority Black and Brown countries in the Global South. I show how theglobal finance industry is leveraging its muscle over climate-vulnerable andheavily indebted countries in the Global South through complex financialtransactions.

Zimbabwe remains ensnared in a profound sovereign debt crisis that hinders its economic recovery and sustainable development. The country's debt overhang continues to undermine fiscal stability, with the national debt surpassing US$20 billion. Despite pledges of commitment to debt clearance, Zimbabwe’s efforts are slow and encumbered by internal and external challenges, including controversial domestic reforms and complex international relations. This update delves into the ongoing struggles in Zimbabwe’s re-engagement efforts as it seeks to manage its debt crisis while navigating international financial obligations and domestic reforms.

International criminal justice is, by common consent, to at least some degree, victors’ justice. Some have argued, however, that victors’ justice might be giving way, over time, to a more universal justice also capable of holding victors accountable. This hopeful notion is often held up by others as a specifically liberal delusion. In my current project, however, I hope to use the examples of leftist “civil society tribunals” from the late Cold War to show that this idea - delusional or not - was once actually more popular amongst radical critics of the liberal international legal mainstream. Liberals, in this period, could thus be the “realists.” I conclude that geo-political realities do not only produce victors’ justice, they explain ideological responses towards it. They have changed how double standards are perceived.

The African Sovereign Debt Justice Network, (AfSDJN), is a coalition of citizens, scholars, civil society actors and church groups committed to exposing the adverse impact of unsustainable levels of African sovereign debt on the lives of ordinary citizens. Convened by Afronomicslaw.org with the support of Open Society for Southern Africa, (OSISA), the AfSDJN's activities are tailored around addressing the threats that sovereign debt poses for economic development, social cohesion and human rights in Africa. It advocates for debt cancellation, rescheduling and restructuring as well as increasing the accountability and responsibility of lenders and African governments about how sovereign debt is procured, spent and repaid.

The African Sovereign Debt Justice Network, (AfSDJN), is a coalition of citizens, scholars, civil society actors and church groups committed to exposing the adverse impact of unsustainable levels of African sovereign debt on the lives of ordinary citizens. Convened by Afronomicslaw.org with the support of Open Society for Southern Africa, (OSISA), the AfSDJN's activities are tailored around addressing the threats that sovereign debt poses for economic development, social cohesion and human rights in Africa. It advocates for debt cancellation, rescheduling and restructuring as well as increasing the accountability and responsibility of lenders and African governments about how sovereign debt is procured, spent and repaid.

We reiterate our position that African countries did not take part in designing the current international financial architecture, embedded in their historical subjugation. Resultantly, as highlighted by the President of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo, it is “skewed significantly against developing and emerging economies” in favor of rich countries. A reform of the governance structure of the Bretton Woods institutions is required as a significant step towards recognizing African countries and citizens as rule makers in the re-design of the international financial and debt architecture.

AfSDJN & FES-Addis Civil Society Forum Focusing on Sovereign Debt Alongside March 2021 AU Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development Conference

In the meantime, since the re-entry of Mozambique into the international debt markets may take time, the poor communities may not have the wherewithal to survive that long.  So, what is the last piece of the puzzle? An IMF arrangement with conditionalities? What conditionalities? My next piece intends to consider this.

We recognise that the current proposal is limited in resolving the longer-term debt burden of developing countries. The stay of enforcement does not introduce any changes in the substantive obligations contracted by the parties. Thus, the standstill will only temporarily suspend the execution and enforcement of eligible financial obligations during the designated period. Meanwhile, interest on the principal will continue to accrue. The proposal is also meant to be used as a ‘shield’ rather than a ‘sword’, i.e. the stay will only be triggered as a defence by the sovereign debtor in the event of a claim against it by a private creditor.