Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States - Debt Distress

Closing Statement at the Ambassadorial Level Dialogue on Addressing Sovereign Debt Distress in LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS in the Time of COVID-19

Anonymous — Thu, 18 Jun 2020 17:25:00 +0000

Remarks by Ms. Fekitamoeloa Katoa‘Utoikamanu, High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States

18 June 2020
New York, USA

Excellencies,
Colleagues,
Ladies and gentlemen,

Thank you all for this unprecedented level of attendance and participation today.

I think we all are united in attaching the utmost importance to the issues at hand and which we discussed.

First, I thank the panelists for your very insightful contributions and engagement.

It is clear that this conversation cannot and should not end here.

The challenge before is vital, complex and multifaceted. Our business only has started and we need to continue to strengthen our engagement and find solutions.

More than ever a United, a collective effort grounded in solidarity is a must. We must find sustainable solutions. We must pool our efforts, bring all relevant stakeholders together and enhance partnerships to ensure that the most vulnerable are not further left behind.

Everyone must feel great concern that between 40 to 60 million people are likely to be pushed back into extreme poverty as a result of COVID-19. This would be the first increase in three decades and wipe out hard won gains.

The LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS will be most affected.

UN-OHRLLS is there to work with all relevant stakeholders to find solutions and more than ever we are committed to do our part in building stronger and more effective partnerships.

We will continue to be your platform for this kind of engagement.

Together, let us respond to this pandemic and help build paths toward inclusive and sustainable futures.

Before I conclude, I must thank Professor Léonce Ndikumana for successfully steering our discussions today as well as for his quite insightful contribution to the discussion.

I also extend my deep appreciation to the Chairs of LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS for your unwavering and strong
collaboration in organizing this meeting.

Thank you all.

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Ambassadorial Level Dialogue on Addressing Sovereign Debt Distress in LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS in the Time of COVID-19

Anonymous — Thu, 18 Jun 2020 15:42:00 +0000

Thursday, 18 June 2020 - 3:00pm to 6:00pm

The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented human tragedy whose health and economic consequences will exacerbate the dramatic disruptions in the life of millions of people.

The pandemic emerged at a time when the world was already on an unsustainable path of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Many countries face a decline in investment, trade, remittances, growing debt burdens, and severely reduced fiscal space. The hardest hit are the most vulnerable countries, namely Least Developed Countries (LDCs), Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS), who face huge spending needs to finance the immediate health response well beyond their capacities. Such a shift of focus will reverse the achievements in SDGs in these countries. The price of inaction, however, will also be devastating, with an immense loss of human life and livelihoods.

MEETING OBJECTIVES

Provide a platform for sharing information on debt relief and other initiatives aimed to mitigate the debt situation in the affected countries;
Explore measures necessary to head off a looming debt disaster in the vulnerable countries stemming from the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic;
Discuss possible solutions to addressing private debt; and
Elaborate on the way forward in maintaining their debt sustainability in the long-run while fulfilling their growing financing needs to implement the 2030 Agenda.

PARTICIPANTS

The Meeting will be attended by representatives from LDCs, LLDCs, and SIDS. Representatives of relevant UN system entities and financial institutions and other stakeholders will also be invited to participate.

FORMAT

The programme will have opening session, presentations by Chairs of the three Groups of Countries to be followed by presentations by panelists, an interactive discussion and the closing session. A summary of the discussion will be availed after the meeting.

ORGANIZERS

The dialogue is organized by Chair of LLDCs, Kazakhstan and UN-OHRLLS in collaboration with Chairs of LDCs and SIDS.

OUTCOME

An official summary will be issued as an outcome of this meeting.

DOCUMENTS

Meeting Documents
Report for the Ambassadorial Dialogue on Addressing Sovereign Debt

tags:

COVID-19

Debt Distress

Least Developed Countries

Landlocked Developing Countries

Small Island Developing States

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Opening Statement at the Ambassadorial Level Dialogue on Addressing Sovereign Debt Distress in LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS in the Time of COVID-19

Anonymous — Thu, 18 Jun 2020 14:42:00 +0000

Opening Statement by Ms. Fekitamoeloa Katoa‘Utoikamanu, High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States

18 June 2020
New York, USA

Excellencies,
Colleagues,
Ladies and gentlemen,

I welcome you to our virtual meeting.

It would be an understatement to say that our shared globe travels through challenging times.

No one, no one country, no one place is spared from uncertainty and the already visible devastating impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Yes, this is a health emergency but one that has already shown very clearly to all that we have a development emergency too.

The Coronavirus continues to spread around the world. Governments turned to classic public health measures such as confinements and social distancing.

The flow of goods and people stalled. Economies and incomes stalled. Livelihoods stalled.

The economic contagion is now spreading as fast as the disease itself.

Analysts increasingly warn that a deep and prolonged global recession is inevitable.

Yes, there is havoc everywhere. But it is already clear that pre- existing inequalities have only grown deeper.

The challenges to vulnerable countries have moved from difficult to daunting.

For the most part, developed nations access the full range of macroeconomic tools to scale up capacities and mitigate the manifold impacts of the pandemic.

That is not on the cards for vulnerable countries with limited reserves, capacities and limited fiscal space to both cushion the blow and rebuild.

The LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS are hardest hit.

They rely on access to ‘hard currency” earned primarily through exports of commodities and highly selective exports and services, such as food, oil, textiles and tourism.

The domestic economies and peoples’ livelihoods also, and by times heavily, rely on remittances from their diasporas.

They rely on FDI.

They rely on access to ODA grants and concessional and market-based borrowing.

The situation now is one of commodity price shocks, loss of export revenue, major loss of investment and remittances, and rapidly plummeting if not non-existing tourism. And we do not know if and when we return to what we now call the “new normal”. And we do not know what this “new normal” may look like.

Beyond any doubt, there will be deep and long-lasting economic and social impacts on these countries.

The stakes are high!

The falloff in revenues will obviously be enormous. Yet, to avoid ever deeper inequalities and ensure basic livelihoods spending needs to be ramped up, investing in curbing the spread of the virus is a must and it is a must to mitigate the socio-economic impacts of the pandemic.

As I said earlier, prior to COVID 19 the situation was challenging but the challenge has beyond doubled with the absolute necessity to respond to COVID-19 as well as the need not to lose sight that we must also achieve the SDGs.

Excellencies,

The pandemic threatens progress so far achieved in implementing the 2030 Agenda and the dedicated Programme of Actions.

Now, in addition to the myriad of challenges I just highlighted, the LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS face high debt burdens or are at risk of debt destress.

Several of them are already in debt distress or will become distressed with the looming global recession.

UNCTAD estimates that in 2020 and 2021 alone, repayments on public external debt will be nearly $3.4 trillion – between $2 trillion and $2.3 trillion in high-income developing countries and between $666 billion and $1.06 trillion in middle- and low-income countries.

Excellencies,

It is now, with truly no time to waste, that we must address this looming debt crisis.

The UN Secretary-General has made repeated calls to the international system and community to address the looming debt crisis.

A three-pronged approach is on the table:

First, an across-the-board standstill on all debt service, including bilateral, multilateral and commercial, for all those developing countries that have no access to financial markets and cannot service their debt.

Second, more comprehensive options towards debt sustainability with instruments such as debt swaps and a debt mechanism for the Sustainable Development Goals.

And

Third, addressing structural issues in the international debt architecture to prevent defaults leading to prolonged financial and economic crises.

Since, several initiatives deal with the looming debt crisis.

These include the announcement of suspension of debt service payments for all International Development Association (IDA) countries and LDCs who request forbearance by the G-20.

The IMF and the World Bank Group and others have also put in place some initiatives to respond to the call to support the most vulnerable.

We will hear more on these initiatives in their presentations today.

These initiatives are a good start, but they may not be sufficient given the severity of the situation faced by the most vulnerable.

To put it bluntly, peoples’ lives and livelihoods are at stake.

Our conversation today is vital!

We must address this question as well as discuss other ways of addressing the looming debt crisis in LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS.

I place high hopes in our discussions that we can come up with workable
deliberations that help answer these questions. We must focus on actionable recommendations to deal with the devastating impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

So, I express my sincere gratitude to the panelists for agreeing to be part of this very important dialogue.

I look forward to listening to you and to our exchanges.

Thank you.

Front Page Article:

Officials From Africa’s Least Developed Countries Stress Major Challenges But Also Bright Spots in Tackling COVID-19

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Jun 2020 19:42:00 +0000

covid19_mali_photo_world_bank_ousmane_traore.jpg

COVID-19 in Mali

World Bank / Ousmane Traore

NEW YORK 16 June 2020 – Tackling health crises is not a new experience for Africa’s least developed countries (LDCs), but the COVID-19 pandemic is presenting larger-scale socio-economic challenges few of these vulnerable countries are prepared for.

In determining the extent to which the pandemic has impacted Africa’s thirty-three LDCs, government officials* acting as focal points for their respective governments, as well as United Nations officials met virtually on 11 June to discuss the impacts of COVID-19 and the mitigation measures being employed to stem the spread of the disease.

African officials shared lessons learned from treating past epidemics such as Ebola, which has led some countries to reactivate emergency response centers previously established to address that disease. However, with COVID-19, many LDCs on the continent are experiencing socio-economic impacts far beyond their capacity to manage. Projections for Sub-Saharan Africa alone, according to the IMF this past April, indicate a negative real GDP growth rate of -1.6 per cent in 2020.

From disrupted supply chains and high debt burdens to weak healthcare systems, lack of food security and less global trade demand the scale of the pandemic has put already vulnerable countries into a more fragile state of affairs.

Furthermore, African LDCs have had to make major compromises in the extent to which measures can be implemented and for how long. In implementing lockdowns, many LDCs face – in contrast to richer countries – a trade-off between protecting lives and saving livelihoods. As a result, some LDCs have only implemented partial lockdowns and some have implemented cash transfers and food assistance.

Speaking at the opening of the meeting, Fekitamoeloa Katoa ‘Utoikamanu, the UN High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States said “We know already that the least developed countries particularly African LDCs will feel disproportionately the impacts of the pandemic. COVID-19 has compounded existing development challenges. For all to see, it has laid bare the lags and utter fragility of sustainable development of African LDCs on so many fronts.”

While the pandemic is posing large scale systemic challenges, Africa’s LDCs are making major national efforts, albeit with limited resources, to quell the impacts.

Senegal has trialed the development of a $1 COVID testing kit that produces results in less than 10 minutes. Uganda, Ethiopia and other LDCs have responded to their first reported cases with aggressive contact tracing and isolation. Ethiopia completed a door-to-door survey in Addis Ababa in just three weeks. Meanwhile, in Zambia ethanol from drought resistant cassava has been turned into ethanol for hand sanitizers sold locally and to neighboring countries.

UNDP’s Chief Economist for Africa, Raymond Gilpin, stressed that strategic interaction is essential to allow African countries to build back better and attain the Sustainable Development Goals. Assistance with health support systems, building integrated crisis management and response systems as well as responses based on socio-economic impact assessments are crucial components of UNDP’s work.

The UN Resident Coordinators in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in Malawi highlighted the UN’s work in those countries to ensure a rapid health response and a sustainable economic recovery based on socio-economic impact assessments.

A major UN conference, the Fifth UN Conference on the Least Developed Countries, which was due to take part in March 2021 in Doha to adopt a new ten-year programme of action for LDCs, has been postponed due to the pandemic. The Director for the Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (OHRLLS), Heidi Schroderus-Fox stressed that while a new timeline for the conference has had to be adopted, the Office is undertaking efforts to ensure momentum is maintained in spite of delays forced by the pandemic.

*National Focal Points are government officials from line ministries and government agencies of LDCs that are responsible for formulation of national economic development strategies and overseeing their implementation. The NFPs are tasked to coordinate with governments in the monitoring, follow-up and review of the Istanbul Programme of Action at the country level, and are a major communication channel between the LDCs and UN-OHRLLS.

Photo: COVID-19 in Mali. World Bank / Ousmane Traore

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Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States - Debt Distress

Closing Statement at the Ambassadorial Level Dialogue on Addressing Sovereign Debt Distress in LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS in the Time of COVID-19

Remarks by Ms. Fekitamoeloa Katoa‘Utoikamanu, High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States

18 June 2020 New York, USA

Ambassadorial Level Dialogue on Addressing Sovereign Debt Distress in LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS in the Time of COVID-19

MEETING OBJECTIVES

PARTICIPANTS

FORMAT

ORGANIZERS

OUTCOME

DOCUMENTS

Opening Statement at the Ambassadorial Level Dialogue on Addressing Sovereign Debt Distress in LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS in the Time of COVID-19

Opening Statement by Ms. Fekitamoeloa Katoa‘Utoikamanu, High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States

18 June 2020 New York, USA

Officials From Africa’s Least Developed Countries Stress Major Challenges But Also Bright Spots in Tackling COVID-19

covid19_mali_photo_world_bank_ousmane_traore.jpg

18 June 2020
New York, USA

18 June 2020
New York, USA