Socializing fiscal policy to achieve human rights and development

IMF: Divergent recoveries stem from divergent policies Pt. I

With Bhumika Muchhala

According to a recent report by the European Network on Debt and Development, a debt pandemic is revealed where $194 billion have been transferred from developing countries to private, multilateral and bilateral creditors in 2020, and 58 countries experienced more revenue leaving their borders than coming in.

In 2020, external public debt service was larger than health care expenditure in at least 62 countries, and larger than education expenditure in at least 36 countries.

What this picture makes exceedingly clear is that it is not only the inequity of vaccine access that is constraining pandemic recovery for developing countries; it is also an unsustainable debt burden draining vital financial resources to invest in public services that protect the lives and livelihoods of local populations.

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