Onerous Debt Making Poorest Poorer

By Jomo Kwame SundaramKUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Jan 31 2024 (IPS) Contractionary economic trends since 2008 and ‘geopolitical’ conflicts subverting international cooperation have worsened world conditions, especially in the poorest countries, mainly in Africa, leaving their poor worse off. Jomo Kwame SundaramConditions and prospects are so bad that two well-known globalisation cheerleaders have appealed to rich nations for urgent action. Former IMF Deputy Managing Director and World Bank Senior Vice-President, Professor Anne Krueger and influential Financial Times columnist Martin Wolf warn ominously of the dire consequences of inaction. Deepening stagnation Following tepid growth after the 2008 global financial crisis, Covid-19 disrupted supply chains worldwide. Then, post-pandemic recovery was disrupted by wars in Ukraine and then Gaza. Food and energy prices soared briefly, largely due to market manipulation by opportunistic investors. Invoking the price hikes as a pretext, the US Fed and European Central Bank raised interest rates, deepening economic stagnation worldwide. Countries which borrowed heavily during the earlier decade of unconventional monetary policies – especially ‘quantitative easing’, offering easy credit – now have to cope with increasingly unbearable debt burdens, particularly in the global South. Earlier modest progress in reducing poverty – now termed ‘extreme poverty’ – and food insecurity has slowed sharply, if not worse. For man...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Africa Armed Conflicts COVID-19 Economy & Trade Energy Financial Crisis Food and Agriculture Global Globalisation Headlines TerraViva United Nations IPS UN Bureau Source Type: news