Shaking Off the Shackles of Sovereign Debt

Low- and middle-income countries have a collective external public debt stock of $3 trillion , a figure that has doubled since 2010 .

The countries most vulnerable to climate change, for instance, are also most likely to be hobbled by debt payments.

The global South ’s structural indebtedness stems from how the current world financial system obliges countries to accumulate foreign currencies, such as the U.S. dollar.

This year , Ghana ’s sovereign debt amounts to more than 80 percent of its GDP.

Authors: Developing countries tend to be more susceptible to the consequences of climate change and less equipped to adapt to it.

They say rich creditors are supposed to help low- and middle-income countries finance climate resiliency measures or repair climate-change-related damages; then they come to collect high-interest debt payments from the very same countries.

Indonesia , India , and Brazil have hosted the past three G-20 summits; South Africa will host next year ’s.

But civil society organizations worldwide have called for the establishment of “a multilateral legal framework under the auspices of the UN ” that would address the issue of unsustainable debt more comprehensively.