CSO Intervention at Debt Session- ECOSOC
12:00–13:00: Panel discussion 4: Fostering debt sustainability by addressing gaps in the sovereign debt architecture.
This session held on the 18th of April 2023, during the United Nations Economic and Social Council- Forum on Financing for Development (UN ECOSOC- FfD) explored reforms to the sovereign debt architecture to close longstanding gaps, and immediate steps that can be taken now towards such reforms. This includes policy actions to 1) Create fiscal space for countries that suffer from debt overhangs to invest in climate action and the SDGs, 2) Close longstanding gaps in the international debt architecture to resolve debt crises more effectively and fairly, and 3) reduce risk of a future repeat of widespread debt crises, through more effective debt crisis prevention, transparency, better debt management, and related measures.
Guiding questions:
- How can we scale up the use of state-contingent elements in sovereign debt contracts? How can they be made into a more standard feature of sovereign borrowing, and how can creditors and the international community facilitate greater take-up?
- What instruments and approaches could be used at scale to address debt overhangs and create fiscal space for SDG investments? How can we speed up debt crisis resolution, within the Common Framework and for countries not eligible?
- What actions are needed at national and global levels to break the cycle of repeat build-ups of sovereign debt and widespread crises?
Chair: ECOSOC Vice-President (Indonesia)
Keynote address by H.E. Mr. Joko Widodo, President, Indonesia (Video message)
Moderator: Sarah Cliffe, Executive Director, Center for International Cooperation, New York University
H.E. Mr. Shehan Semasinghe, State Minister of Finance, Sri Lanka
H.E. Mr. Naadir Hassan, Minister of Finance, Seychelles
H.E. Mr. Abdelkerim Ahmadaye Bakhit, President, Economic, Social, Cultural and Environmental Council, Chad
Mr. Robert Powell, IMF Special Representative to the UN
Lead discussant: Mr. Jason Braganza, African Forum and Network on Debt and Development (AFRODAD)