About us - We are part of a global movement to break the chains of debt and for a new financial...

Post on 18-Dec-2015

214 views 1 download

Tags:

Transcript of About us - We are part of a global movement to break the chains of debt and for a new financial...

About us

- We are part of a global movement to break the chains of debt and for a new financial system that puts people first.

- Successor to Jubilee 2000

- Make Poverty History 2005

- Financial crisis 2008 - today

What’s the problem?

Poverty and inequality

- Poverty in the developing world: progress in 2000s, long way to go- Financial crisis: still living with the consequences- Estimated 64 million more people in extreme poverty following the financial crisis (World Bank)- Top 1% on course to have more than 50% of global wealth (Oxfam)

The Jubilee we need today…

Our demands

1. Cancel the debt

2. Tax justice

3. Control lending

Our demands

• Cancel the debt

Cancelling the unjust debts of the most indebted nations

Our demands

• Cancel the debt- Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea

- More than 8,500 deaths already

- $130 million in debt payments due in 2015

- G20 pledge in November

- Post-Catastrophe Debt Relief fund

Our demands

• Cancel the debt- Eurozone, esp. Greece

- Banks bailed out, not people of Greece

- Transfer of private debt to public debt to save the euro

- 1953 London Accords cancelled Germany’s debt

Our demands

• Cancel the debt- Vulture funds

- Vulture Funds Law 2010-11

- Extended to Jersey, Guernsey, Isle of Man 2012-13

- Argentina forced default, summer 2014

- UN sovereign debt restructuring process, Sep 2014

Our demands

• Tax justice

Promote just and progressive taxation rather than excessive borrowing

Our demands

• Tax justice

- UK loses billions from corporate tax dodging every year- Developing countries lose an estimated $160 billion- We need fair global tax rules

Our demands

• Control lending

Stop harmful lending which forces countries into debt

Our demands

• Control lending- Don’t Set a New Debt Trap campaign

- No TTIP coalition

Key opportunities in 2015

- UK General Election (May)

- G7 in Germany (May)

- UN Finance for Development

conference (June)

- Paris climate summit (December)

Election 2015

- Most unpredictable in a generation

- Multiple post-election scenarios

- Competition for every vote

Our priorities

- Don’t Set a New Debt Trap

- Tax Dodging Bill coalition

- No TTIP coalition

Don’t Set a New Debt Trap

- Plans to shift UK aid to loans- Less than 7% interest = officially ‘aid’- New loans to developing countries2007: $5.8 billion2012: $11.8 billion- World Bank wants to increase by $100 billion over next decade

Ghana

- $7.4 billion debt cancelled, 2004-05- Foreign debt payments fell from 20% to less than 5%- Predicted to reach 20% again in ten year’s time

Ghana

“Debt cancellation in the early 2000s gave Ghana a great relief, allowing us to dream again. However, the IMF and other external partners may have, alongside Ghana itself, become too complacent. Access to low-interest loans was taken away and the lack of tax revenues was neglected. Ghana is now falling back into the debt problem again to the detriment of the many poor Ghanaians who have to bear the hardship and pain of austerity measures.”- Bernard Anaba, Integrated Social Development Centre, Ghana

Who’s doing the lending?

- 60% international lenders (World Bank, IMF and others)- 30% governments (Japan, France, Germany, China and others)- 10% private lenders- UK is the biggest funder of the World Bank

Who is at risk?

- New Lending Boom research analysed 43 developing countries- Risk of a large rise in debt payments in the next decade

Who is at risk?

- Scenario 1 (high growth, no economic shocks): 25% at risk- Scenario 2 (one economic shock in next decade): 58% at risk- Scenario 3 (growth lower than expected): 67% at risk

Don't Set a New Debt Trap

Key policies:

- Grants not Loans

- Tax Justice

- Fair Rules on Global Debt

What you can do

- Sign the postcards / email the political parties- Lobby your PPCs- Get in your local papers- Ask questions at hustings