Commonwealth Scribe calls for responsible management of soaring public debt

ENGLAND, UK – The drastic increase in public debt burdens caused by the impact of the pandemic has reversed progress towards debt sustainability in many countries across the world. This week, the Commonwealth Secretariat convened a two-day virtual high-level panel discussion identifying problems and solutions for ‘Financing Recovery and Achieving Debt Sustainability in a Post Pandemic Period. 

In a keynote address at the virtual event, Hon. Ms Marsha K. A. Caddle, Minister in the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Investment, Barbados spoke about debt sustainability in her country.

“We are at a moment in global development where we need a global solution. It’s not possible to talk about debt and debt sustainability without talking about what created that debt. Across the Eastern Caribbean, across small, low income and middle-income island economies, the driver of debt is the climate crisis. We cannot separate the conversation on debt from the conversation on climate.

“Many countries in this region have accumulated such high levels of debt because they’ve had to build back from disasters such as hurricanes which are growing in intensity. And now we’ve seen the climbing levels of debt because of the pandemic. The issue of debt sustainability is as much a global problem as the climate crisis is a global problem.”

This virtual panel discussion held by the  Commonwealth Secretariat’s Debt Management Unit comes at a critical moment. Some countries are stocktaking, regrouping, and resuscitating their economies after the whirlwind of the pandemic, whilst others are still battling the outbreak itself. So, this is a timely conversation about solutions, which must begin with the recognition that a one-size-fits-all approach will fail miserably.

During her opening remarks, at the virtual session the Rt Hon Patricia Scotland, Secretary-General of the Commonwealth said: “As the world prepares for the road to recovery from the economic fall-out of COVID-19, the Commonwealth Secretariat’s advocacy to encourage positive participation by all key stakeholders can be decisive, building on our extensive and overlapping spheres of regional and international influence.

“We convened this virtual panel discussion to consider how member countries of the Commonwealth, individually and collectively, can finance and deliver a greener, bluer and more inclusive post-pandemic economic recovery within the prudent discipline of sustainable levels of borrowing.”