This campaign has now closed
A boom in irresponsible lending is threatening a repeat of the 1980s-90s debt crisis that devastated poor countries and set the fight against global poverty back two decades. This project will put action to prevent a new crisis on the agenda of political parties in the run-up to the 2015 election.
Categories
Beneficiaries
Situation
The ‘Third World’ debt crisis trapped countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America in a spiral of debt and impoverishment for two decades. In response, the global Jubilee movement succeeded in winning $130 billion of debt cancellation for 36 countries. Yet the crisis now looks set to repeat itself. Globally loans to the most impoverished countries have doubled in the last 5 years. This lending boom risks a new major debt crisis, which would keep millions around the world locked in poverty.
Solution
The problem of developing country debt has fallen off the agenda of British politicians in recent years, sidelined by a focus on short-term ‘sticking plaster’ solutions to poverty in the developing world instead of action to tackle the root causes. This p