Alivio de la deuda

La cumbre de financiamiento climático de París no logra entregar un plan de

condonación de la deuda
Los países con problemas de deuda lanzan un salvavidas
financiero, pero los críticos dicen que las medidas no alcanzan lo
que se necesita

Fiona Harvey en París

vie 23 jun 2023 15.57 BST

Los países más pobres que luchan con una creciente crisis de la deuda se vieron envueltos en un salvavidas en una cumbre
financiera mundial en París , pero los planes aún no alcanzaron el programa de condonación de la deuda que algunos esperaban.

Se avanzó en las reformas que ayudarían a abordar la emergencia climática , ya que casi 40 líderes mundiales y los jefes de
instituciones globales se reunieron en París para la cumbre, que finalizó el viernes.

Emmanuel Macron, el presidente francés, pidió impuestos globales sobre el transporte marítimo , la aviación y, potencialmente,
sobre la riqueza para financiar la acción climática. “Ayúdanos a encontrar todos los países que hoy no tienen impuestos sobre las
transacciones financieras y que hoy no tienen impuestos sobre los boletos de avión. Ayúdenos a movilizarnos en la Organización
Marítima Internacional [reunión para discutir un impuesto de envío] en julio para que haya impuestos internacionales”, dijo a
los periodistas franceses.

Janet Yellen, la secretaria del Tesoro de EE. UU., señaló que la administración de Biden consideraría el
impuesto al envío, aunque no llegó a aprobarlo.

El presidente entrante del Banco Mundial, Ajay Banga, expuso una nueva visión para la institución , que combinaría su enfoque
tradicional de sacar a las personas de la pobreza con un énfasis en la crisis climática, que amenaza con destruir el progreso en el
desarrollo.

“Mi opinión es que la visión del Banco Mundial tiene que evolucionar para decir, sí, crearemos un mundo libre de pobreza, pero
en un planeta habitable, lo que significa que abordaremos el clima, las pandemias, la fragilidad, la inseguridad alimentaria, cosas
que reducen nuestra capacidad de tener calidad de vida, y tener esperanza y optimismo”, dijo.

But poverty and climate campaigners said few concrete measures had been agreed at the summit that would make a difference
now. At least 52 countries are currently in debt distress, unable or close to unable to service their debts, driven higher by rising
interest rates and a strong dollar.
Walter Mawere, an advocacy coordinator for Care International in Somalia, said: “It’s a disappointment. The summit did not go
far enough to deliver for the people who bear the brunt of climate impacts.”

He pointed to the worst drought in 40 years in Somalia. “[We see] the harshest impacts of climate change every day. What can I
tell them when I get home tomorrow? These international technical conferences must respond to this reality and hear our
messages.”

The World Bank will pause debt repayments for countries struggling with climate disaster, but only on new loans. The UK will do
the same for its existing loans, but only for 12 countries in Africa and the Caribbean.

About $100bn (£80bn) is to be provided to poorer countries through an instrument known as special drawing rights (SDRs), a
form of currency provided by the International Monetary Fund. France, Japan and the UK were among the countries pledging
varying proportions of their SDRs to poorer countries, amounting to about $80bn. A further $21bn could come from the US if the
White House can get agreement from Congress.

Kristalina Georgieva, the managing director of the IMF, said: “We have a success story. Something we promised and it was
delivered.”

The SDR cash is separate from the $100bn a year in dedicated climate finance that poorer countries have been promised to help
them cut greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the impacts of the climate crisis.

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And both are separate from a planned new fund known as the loss and damage fund, to help rescue countries that are stricken by
climate disaster. If a global shipping tax can be instituted, which by some estimates could raise $5bn a year, at least some of the
revenues would accrue to loss and damage.

Next week, the International Maritime Organization will meet to discuss the potential for a new tax on shipping. Eamon Ryan,
Ireland’s environment minister, told the Guardian the decision was likely to be finely balanced. “It’s 50/50,” he said.

The summit ended with world leaders agreeing they wanted a transformation of the world’s approach to the investment needed
to lift countries out of poverty, overseas aid, and the climate crisis, and a roadmap to be set for fresh discussions on how to
achieve these aims. Countries agreed on a central principle that the finance needed would run to trillions, not billions, and that
most of it would have to come from the private sector, kickstarted by public money.

They agreed that institutions such as the World Bank and other development banks should work to “de-risk” investment in
developing countries, to bring far higher flows of finance to poor countries that need it.

But divisions between rich and poor were deep, and major question marks over future policies – including potential new global
taxes on shipping, aviation, fossil fuels and wealth – remain.

Youth campaigners in Paris, including Greta Thunberg and Vanessa Nakate, said the summit had missed the point by failing to
focus on the greatest source of the problem: fossil fuels. They said rich countries must abandon fossil fuels, and must help pay
for the rest of the world’s transition, but the summit barely addressed the issue.

Thunberg said: “If your house is on fire, the first thing you do is to stop pouring oil and gas on to the fire. If you keep adding fossil
fuels and fund more oil and gas, you are only fuelling the flames.”
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