Caritas Africa joined faith leaders in calling for debt relief for African countries during the G20 summit in South Africa. Source: The Tablet.
The signatories to the statement issued after the conclusion of the two-day summit in Johannesburg on Sunday said that African countries are using money that should go towards education and health to service ever-growing debt to international lenders.
It followed pleas by faith leaders and other international pressure groups for relief for highly indebted countries, which are using scarce resources to service what they call a vicious cycle of debt.
Some estimates say Africa’s collective debt to international financial organisations amounts to hundreds of billions of dollars, which will be inherited by future generations.
“Reducing debt serving to 10 per cent shows education increased in school attendance across primary and secondary levels,” Nyarai Mutongwiso, a Caritas Africa research lead, said.
African governments are struggling to provide essential services, including health and clean water, and require international finance to fund infrastructure investment. Debt cancellation advocates say the loans come with prohibitive interest rates that have trapped poor countries in a cycle of debt and dependence.
“These punishing costs trap countries into a vicious cycle which includes high interests which consume public funds,” Fr Bonaventure Natasha, a member of Caritas Africa advocacy committee, said.
The final communiqué issued by faith leaders who lobbied for debt relief during the G20 summit called for “practical steps” to address the debt crisis.
“Among many of our communities, millions of children are unable to complete their schooling as teachers are going unpaid. Countless families are unable to access essential medical treatments as public health spending budgets are slashed,” they said.
“This is because of a crisis in which more than fifty countries are spending more on servicing foreign debts than on basic public services and infrastructure: diverting resources from their people to instead pay extortionate interest demands from external creditors.”
Sr Dominica Mkhize, the associate secretary general of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference, called the debt crisis “an ethical and spiritual tragedy” that actively “wounds human dignity”.
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Plea for G20 to confront ‘ethical tragedy’ of Africa debt crisis (By Marko Phiri, Ngala Killian Chimtom, The Tablet)
