AD 2021: Covid-19 and Debt for All

December 17, 2021

The last decade has been marked by a long period of debt accumulation, particularly in emerging and developing economies. Loose financing conditions and low interest rates encouraged these countries to borrow to meet their financing needs. Today, in the context of the global crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the situation is becoming more worrying.  The increase in public spending on health and social protection, combined with the decrease in tax revenues, has led to a widening of deficits and an acceleration of the pace of indebtedness, which has added to the upward trend already underway since 2010. The world is thus faced with a dilemma: ensuring a sustainable economic recovery without exacerbating the risks of a global debt crisis. Should we be more concerned about the economic recovery or the debt situation? Are we facing a trade-off? Have the initiatives taken by the international community so far, in support of certain countries, to mitigate their risks of over-indebtedness and default, been sufficient and effective? How to maintain the development momentum for countries facing a liquidity shortage? How to reform the international architecture to reduce the risk of future debt crises?

Speakers
John Yearwood
President and CEO, Yearwood Media Group
An award-winning multimedia journalist, John Yearwood is President and CEO of Yearwood Media Group, a global consulting and content creation firm. In his role as President/CEO of Yearwood Media, he advises companies seeking to do business in emerging markets, with a particular focus on Africa and Asia. In 2019, he was appointed honorary chair of the the National Association of Black Journalists annual convention, which convened 4,100 black journalists in Miami. He sits on several boards, including the Austria-based International Press Institute, where he is the former chairman. Former world editor of the Miami Herald. The World Desk won numerous awards under his leadership, including two McClatchy Company President’s Awards and the Arthur Ross Award for best coverage of Latin ...
Rym Ayadi
Founder and Scientific Director, Euro-Mediterranean Economists Association
Rym Ayadi is the Founder and President of the Euro – Mediterranean Economists Association (EMEA). She is Founder and Director of the Euro-Mediterranean and African Network for Economic Studies (EMANES). She is Senior Advisor at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS); Professor at the Bayes Business School, City University of London and Member of the Centre for Banking Research (CBR); Chair of the European Banking Authority – Banking Stakeholders Group (EBA- BSG). She is also Associated Scholar at the Centre for Relationship Banking and Economics (CERBE) at LUMSA University in Rome. ...

RELATED CONTENT

  • June 21, 2017
    Ce podcast est présenté par Moubarack Lo. Il y analyse l’apport de l’adhésion marocaine à la CEDEAO suite à l’accord de principe donné par ses membres au 51e sommet de Monrovia le 4 juin ...
  • Authors
    June 9, 2017
    In June 2017, the second Annual Report on Commodity Analytics and Dynamics In Africa (Arcadia report) was published, in collaboration between the OCP Policy Center and CyclOpe. Its aim is to annually report on the evolution of the economic, legal, financial and societal links between Africa and the world commodity markets, both with regard to the cyclical changes in the markets, and to the structural changes or failures that may have emerged. Focusing on 2016 and early 2017, the Arc ...
  • Authors
    Matheus Cavallari
    June 6, 2017
    One major policy issue in Brazil is how to boost productivity, while following a path of fiscal consolidation that will take at least a decade to bring the public-debt-to-GDP ratio back to 2000 levels (Canuto, 2016a). The productivityboosting agenda includes not only the implementation of a full range of structural reforms, but also recovering and upgrading the national infrastructure and other long-term investments. Given that fiscal consolidation has already been leading to less t ...
  • June 06, 2017
    Ce podcast est présenté par Mme. Clélie Nallet, chercheur au Programme Afrique subsaharienne de l’Ifri. La catégorie « classes moyennes africaines » est désormais largement mobilisée dans ...
  • Authors
    April 20, 2017
    Last week the World Bank released a Staff Note (2017) analyzing the pension reform proposal sent last December by Brazil’s Federal Government to Congress. It concludes that (p.16, our emphasis): “… the proposed pension reform in Brazil is necessary, urgent if Brazil is to meet its spending rule, and socially balanced in that the proposal mostly eliminates subsidies received under the current rules by formal sector workers and civil servants who belong to the top 60 percent of house ...
  • Authors
    Luiz A Pereira da Silva
    April 5, 2017
    Development finance is an issue that typically concerns developing countries where numerous, grave socioeconomic problems persist, including – and not among the least – the need for stable development finance in higher quantity and of higher quality. However, development finance could also be used today as a growth-enhancing concept applicable to advanced economies, to boost their growth and help their social inclusion. It could contribute to rebalancing macroeconomic policies and m ...
  • Authors
    April 3, 2017
    Turkey has been approaching a crossroads for some time now. Soon enough it will have to choose a direction. On April 16, 2017 Turks will vote in a referendum on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s proposed constitutional amendment that would shift the country’s power center from a parliamentary system to a presidential one.  If successful, not only would this further consolidate power in the executive’s hands—in this case Erdogan himself—but it would also pave the way for him to rema ...
  • Authors
    Diana Quintero
    March 23, 2017
    Colombia is a country of incredible contrast: known to be one of the places on earth where people feel happiest, it is also one of the most unequal and for many decades, a country immersed in a protracted conflict. Despite the latter - and here is the starkest contrast - Colombia has recently succeeded in reducing poverty and building the foundations for sustainable growth and prosperity. The Santos administration has delivered on two of its main promises: sign a peace agreement wi ...