Top Economists Call for urgent action to address global debt crises

 

Source: Press Release

A groundbreaking new report by world-leading experts in debt and development calls for urgent action and systemic reforms to tackle the escalating debt and development crises affecting billions worldwide.

 

“The Jubilee Report: A Blueprint for Tackling the Debt and Development Crises and Creating the Financial Foundations for a Sustainable People-Centered Global Economy,” released today, is authored by Pope Francis’ Jubilee Commission — a group of over 30 leading global experts led by Nobel laureate and Columbia University Professor Joseph Stiglitz and former Minister of the Economy of Argentina and Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs Professor Martín Guzmán.

 

The report follows Pope Francis’ repeated calls for global debt relief, which are now being carried forward by Pope Leo XIV, and brings together for the first time a combination of sound economic expertise with the moral responsibility to act.

 

The report  shows that the debt crisis plaguing the global financial system is also fueling a development crisis. Fifty-four developing countries now spend 10% or more of their tax revenues just on interest payments. Across the developing world, average interest burdens have nearly doubled in the past decade. This diverts resources away from essential investments in health, education, infrastructure, and climate resilience — depriving millions of life-saving care, nutrition and employment.

 

This does not have to be the case: Solutions exist that are both economically sound and beneficial to all.

 

As global market uncertainty grows and refinancing options diminish for debt-distressed nations, this report charts a bold and practical path forward, arguing that, through shared responsibility, we can avoid a lost decade for development and climate action and instead support economic recovery and long-term development.

 

The report presents a moral and practical vision: that global finance should serve people and the planet — not punish the poor to protect profits. Recommendations include:

 

Improve debt restructuring: Change multilateral institution policies and legislation in key jurisdictions (New York State and England) so that creditors and debtor governments are newly incentivized to agree to more timely and sustainable debt restructurings.

 

End bailouts to private creditors: Multilateral institutions including the International Monetary Fund should change their policies and practices to support sustainable recoveries, not de facto bailouts of private creditors or crippling austerity.

 

Strengthen domestic policies: Developing countries should more extensively use capital account regulations to discourage destabilizing flows and create a more stable environment for long-term investments and should invest in structural transformation.

 

Enhance transparency: All should support financial policies that are transparent and have broad societal support.

 

Reimagine global finance: All should support a comprehensive change in global financing models to drive financing for sustainable development, including lending that supports long-term growth.

 

The report’s findings will be discussed at the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development in Seville, Spain, June 30-July 3, and at key global gatherings where the global debt and development crises will be high on the agenda, including the United Nations General Assembly in New York City in September and the G20 Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, in November.

 

Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz (commissioned by Pope Francis to co-lead on the report) says:

“There is growing consensus among experts that the current debt system serves financial markets, not people. This threatens to condemn entire nations to a lost decade — or worse. Now is the time for responsible action.”

 

Minister of Economy for Argentina (2019-2022) Martín Guzmán (commissioned by Pope Francis to co-lead on the report) says:

“The debt crisis is crowding out investments in health, education, and climate and is making the economic and social situation dramatic in many developing economies. Pope Francis’ call was a moral act of timely leadership. In this Jubilee year, a coalition of the willing must act to tackle the debt and development crises or else inequality of opportunity will rise and instability will spiral with worldwide medium-term destabilizing consequences.”

 

Pope Leo XIV declared at his inauguration on 18 May 2025:

“In this our time, we still see too much discord, too many wounds caused by hatred, violence, prejudice, the fear of difference, and an economic paradigm that exploits the Earth’s resources and marginalises the poorest.” (18 May 2025, “Homily at Inauguration Mass”).

 

 

 

The Jubilee Commission was appointed by Pope Francis in February 2025 to mark the Jubilee year 2025, when the Catholic church focuses on forgiveness of debts and tackling injustice and inequality.

 

The Commission is chaired by Nobel Laureate Professor Joseph E. Stiglitz and brings together leading global experts on sovereign debt from academia, civil society, and faith communities to address the burden of unsustainable debts and find ways to prevent future debt crises and promote sustainable economic, social, and environmental development.

 

Pope Francis made debt a central focus of his papacy, recognizing that the current international financial system is ill-equipped to meet today’s global challenges and urgently needs reform. In June 2024, he called for an international mechanism for sovereign debt restructuring, and encouraged financial leaders to “follow an international code of conduct with ethical standards that can guide dialogue between parties.”

 

Twenty-five years ago in Jubilee 2000, over $100 billion in international debt was cancelled, but a lack of structural reform, combined with recent world events, resulted in systemic vulnerabilities that are now undermining hard-won gains. The time for new Jubilee action is now.

 

Members of the Jubilee Commission:

 

Charles Abugre, Executive Director, International Development Economics Associates (IDEAs)

 

Helen Alford, President, The Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences

 

Patrick Bolton, Professor of Finance and Economics, Imperial College London

 

Markus Brunnermeier, Professor, Princeton University

 

Lee Buchheit, Honorary Professor, University of Edinburgh Law School

 

Laura Carvalho, Associate Professor, University of São Paulo; Director of Economic and Climate Opportunity, Open Society Foundation

 

Grieve Chelwa, Associate Professor and Chair of the Social Sciences Department, The Africa Institute

 

Maia Colodenco, Director, Global Initiatives Division of Suramericana Vision

 

Ishac Diwan, Professor of Economics, American University of Beirut, and Finance for Development Lab

 

Daniela Gabor, Professor of Economics and Macro-Finance, University of the West of England

 

Kevin Gallagher, Professor, Boston University; Director, Global Development Policy Center

 

Jayati Ghosh, Professor, University of Massachusetts Amherst

 

Martín Guzmán, Professor, Columbia University, SIPA; Co-President, Initiative for Policy Dialogue

 

Arjun Jayadev, Professor, Azim Premji University

 

Martin Kessler, Executive Director, Finance for Development Lab, Paris School of Economics

 

Haruhiko Kuroda, Former Governor of the Bank of Japan

 

Mariana Mazzucato, Professor, University College London; Director, Institute for Innovation & Public Purpose

 

Marcus Miller, Emeritus Professor, University of Warwick

 

Mahmoud Mohieldin, United Nations Special Envoy, Financing the 2030 Agenda

 

José Antonio Ocampo, Professor, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University

 

Mavis Owusu-Gyamfi, President and CEO, African Center for Economic Transformation

 

Avinash Persaud, Special Advisor, Climate Change to the President of the Inter-American Development Bank

 

Jeffrey Sachs, Professor, Columbia University

 

Frederic Samama, Professor, Columbia University

 

Daouda Sembene, Founder and CEO, AfriCatalyst

 

Vera Songwe, Non-Resident Senior Fellow, Global Economy and Development, Brookings Institute

 

Brad Setser, Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations

 

Joseph Stiglitz, Professor, Columbia University; Founder and Co-President, Initiative for Policy Dialogue

 

Adam Tooze, Professor, Columbia University; Director, European Institute

 

Marilou Uy, Non-Resident Senior Fellow, Global Economic Governance Initiative, Boston University Global Development Policy Center

 

Mark Weisbrot, Co-Director, Center for Economic and Policy Research

 

Stefano Zamagni, Professor of Economics, University of Bologna

 

Marina Zucker Marques, Senior Academic Researcher, Global Economic Governance Initiative, Boston University Global Development Policy Center