Breaking the Debt-Development Trap
| When: | Tuesday, 26 August 2025 - Tuesday, 26 August 2025 |
| Where: | Online Event |
| Start time: | 14:00 |
| Enquiries: | For more information contact: rahul.gandhi@wits.ac.za |
| RSVP: |
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Breaking the Debt-Development Trap: Lessons from the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development
Brief description: The 4th International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) addressed the urgent need for sustainable development amid mounting debt crises in developing countries. With over 60% facing or nearing debt distress, social spending is being crowded out by debt service. Climate vulnerabilities, high borrowing costs, and weak debt relief mechanisms worsen the situation. FfD4 proposed measures like debt swaps, crisis debt pauses, and taxes on luxury emissions, but key gaps remain, such as the failure to phase out fossil fuel subsidies. As South Africa’s G20 presidency ends, it is vital to uphold FfD4’s commitments to debt sustainability and a just, inclusive transition.
Moderator: Prof. Imraan Valodia – Pro VC Climate, Sustainability, and Inequality, Wits
Panellists: Prof. Kunal Sen – Director of UNU-WIDER; Prof. Ulrich Volz – Director of the Centre for Sustainable Finance, SOAS; Dr Crispian Olver – Deputy Chairperson of the Presidential Climate Commission; Dr Caren Grown – Senior Fellow in the Centre for Sustainable Development, Brookings Institution
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