MADRID, 23 (EUROPA PRESS)
The Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, assured during the summit for a new global financial compact in Paris that the international financial system is in a crisis.
“Halfway to the 2030 deadline, the Sustainable Development Goals are getting closer every day. (…) Yes, in 2023 more than 750 million people will not have enough to eat. And tens of millions more are on the brink of extreme poverty,” Guterres said.
This situation, “exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine,” was overcome by rich countries by printing money, which the poorest could not, according to the secretary-general.
In addition, he reported that today 52 countries are in default or about to make their payments, leaving many unable to even meet the needs of their people, including many African countries also threatened by climate change.
“This situation is intolerable. It is clear that the international financial architecture has failed in its mission to provide a global safety net for developing countries,” he said.
Guterres has proposed a change in this international architecture, created at the end of World War II, which does not adapt to current conditions since “more than three-quarters of today’s countries were not present when the Bretton Woods institutions were created”. : the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
“Without serious reforms, there will be no serious solution to this crisis. I have called for a new Bretton Woods moment, a moment when governments come together, reassess and transform the global financial architecture for the 21st century,” Guterres said.
Given the need for concrete action, the secretary-general has proposed a $500,000 million a year stimulus for investment in “sustainable development and climate action,” which includes “concrete steps” such as establishing mechanisms to ease debt repayments for countries with low and middle income and “particular vulnerabilities”.