• UN Secretary-General António Guterres recently expressed his concern that the global financial landscape is in need of major repair, with 52 countries facing economic disaster.
• Guterres believes that current financial rules are unjust and immoral, as evidenced by the fact that the African continent received only $34 billion from the IMF’s allocated $650 billion in Special Drawing Rights.
• The Secretary-General proposes a Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) stimulus to combat climate change by offering a new debt-relief and financing mechanism for developing nations.
UN Secretary General Warns of Global Economic Crisis
UN Secretary-General António Guterres recently warned of a global economic crisis at the G7 summit in Japan. He noted that 52 countries are currently facing economic disaster due to outdated, dysfunctional and unfair global financial infrastructure.
Current Financial Rules Unjust and Immoral
Guterres discussed how evidence of this injustice can be seen with the International Monetary Fund’s allocated $650 billion in Special Drawing Rights – or SDRs [since 2020]. Despite having a population of 1.3 billion people, Africa only received $34 billion from this sum while 772 million people in Europe received $280 billion.
Proposal for Sustainable Development Goals Stimulus
Guterres proposed a Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) stimulus to combat climate change by offering a new debt-relief and financing mechanism for developing nations. He believes multilateral development banks could leverage enormous amounts of private finance for developing countries at reasonable cost if they changed their business models and approach to risk.
Reforming Bretton Woods Institutions
The Secretary-General also suggested reforming both the Security Council and Bretton Woods institutions as part of redistributing power according to today’s world realities.
Conclusion
In conclusion, UN Secretary-General António Guterres has urged global leaders to take action on fixing global financial infrastructure which he describes as outdated, dysfunctional and unfair with dozens upon dozens of countries currently facing dire economic straits. His proposal for Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) stimulus is one potential solution which would provide an effective mechanism for debt relief and scale up long-term funding for developing nations across the world.