悠长假期

SL, 53 countries need debt relief_我的网站

A |     Colombo, Oct 12 (UNI) Cascading global crises have left 54 countries, including Sri Lanka and Pakistan, in dire need of debt relief, the United Nations has said.
In a new report, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) warned that dozens of developing nations were facing a rapidly deepening debt crisis and that “the risks of inaction are dire”, the Daily FT newspaper reported.
UNDP said without immediate relief, at least 54 countries would see rising poverty levels, and “desperately needed investments in climate adaptation and mitigation will not happen”.
That was worrisome since the affected countries were “among the most climate-vulnerable in the world”, the newspaper said.
The countries at the most immediate risk are Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Tunisia, Chad, and Zambia.
The agency’s report, published ahead of meetings of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and also of G20 finance ministers in Washington, highlighted the need for swift action.
But despite repeated warnings, “little has happened so far, and the risks have been growing,” UNDP chief Achim Steiner told reporters in Geneva.
“That crisis is intensifying and threatening to spill over into an entrenched development crisis across dozens of countries across the world.”
The poor, indebted countries are facing converging economic pressures and many find it impossible to pay back their debt or access new financing, the report said.
The UN agency said debt troubles had been brewing in many of the affected countries long before the Covid-19 pandemic hit.
According to available data, 46 of the 54 countries had amassed public debt totalling $ 782 billion in 2020, the report said.
UNI MR。