This week has seen some horrendous interest rates being charged by private lenders of global south governments: Republic of Congo: 13.7% Laos: 11.25% Nigeria: 8.6% and 9.1%

In other frontier sovereign debt news... Republic of Congo issued its first eurobond since 2007. Actually an off-market placement to investors with a yield of 13.7% - which I think may be an African eurobond record at the point of issuance. Coupon of 9.875%. www.finances.gouv.cg/sites/defaul...

Private lenders continue to demand crazy interest rates from lower-income countries

Hurricane Melissa will cost Jamaica at least $6bn. Much of the damage will be paid for through loans. Jamaica already spends over 20% of government revenue on external debt payments www.reuters.com/world/americ...

Standard Chartered says Zambia needs to restructure all its debt. Any guesses which bank has not announced it has restructured Zambia's debt yet? Yes, Standard Chartered... diggers.news/business/202...

“Debt relief is taking far too long and leaving countries at high risk of debt crisis. The UK must use its likely presidency of the G20 in 2027 to champion major changes, including deeper and quicker debt relief” - @tim-jones6.bsky.social in the Guardian www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

But they must be considered as a piggy bank to repay private creditors that made a bad bet but refuse to take the loss.

We are extremely disappointed to see nothing new in the #G20's Declaration on #debt today, which reiterates limited & ineffective tools like the #CommonFramework over support of real reforms at a more inclusive forum, like the #UN. Read our full reaction ➡️ www.eurodad.org/g20_statemen...

#Ethiopia's lenders could be about to sue the country in the British courts - after refusing a restructuring deal which would have made them significant profits. We need a debt justice law to protect countries in debt crisis from being sued in London www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

BREAKING: We're in the news “By denying debt relief for countries that need it, the #IMF is acting as a debt collector for rich and powerful creditors" - Heidi Chow It's time to hold @IMFNews accountable. #StopTheHarm #CancelTheDebt www.theguardian.com/business/202...

20 billion dollar US Treasury + Fed bailout for Argentina's Javier Milei. Cui Bono? "Funds at investment firms including BlackRock, Fidelity and Pimco are heavily invested in Argentina, as are investors such as Stanley Druckenmiller and Robert Citrone, both of whom worked with Mr. Bessent."

Kenya's recent Eurobonds were sold at an issue price less than 100 (so Kenya received less they now owe). This means the actual interest rates Kenya is paying are 8.2% and 9.4% on the 8- and 13-year bonds. (Rather than the headline 7.875% and 8.8%).

🚨 BREAKING: The former leader of Reform UK in Wales, Nathan Gill, has pleaded guilty to #bribery, admitting he received corrupt payments as a Brexit Party MEP in exchange for making statements in the European Parliament to promote Russia’s interests in #Ukraine.

This is so depressing - Suriname restructured its debt in December 2023. The deal involved minimal debt relief from bondholders. Suriname is already struggling with the high external debt payments (averaging 23% of government revenue 2025-2030) www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Trump's Argentine bail out could set up biggest sovereign story of the decade. If Argentina defaults despite the bail out, Trump will want seniority, but IMF cant give it. You can imagine how this descends into a colossal row between IMF and its biggest shareholder www.ft.com/content/4127...

Elizabeth Warren has some questions for Scott Bessent on the US bailout in the works for Argentina. www.banking.senate.gov/imo/media/do...

That gap. 32% see immigration as one of the most important issues facing Britain — more than any other issue. Just 4% see it as something that's important in their own life — one of the lowest shares, and a fraction of the numbers for inflation or the NHS.

Sarah Champion MP, Chair of the International Development Committee, says she is "deeply disappointed" at the lack of progress on global debt reform. In a letter to the UK government she says it is in a uniquely powerful position to drive change committees.parliament.uk/publications...

what part of "We will take the fight to Farage" has convinced them they should never in any way fight Farage

One interesting aspect of this - the US government thinks making New York sovereign debt law more creditor friendly will mean New York law is used less. Because debtors will not want to use it. www.ft.com/content/abb7...

A Baptist minister has been arrested in Oxford for holding a placard reading ‘I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action’. Rev Grote of New Road Baptist Church said ‘I am doing this because of my faith. I’m doing this because I’m a follower of Jesus Christ, who broke the rules and created peace.’

Important point made in the background work that debt service to China looks like it has been increasing since last year, but mainly due to end of DSSI era & related suspensions. Whereas for the non-default countries, debt service to private creditors uninterrupted.

Debt payments by lower-income countries are three times higher to private lenders than to China. For 88 countries, 39% of external debt payments are to private lenders, 34% multilateral lenders, 13% Chinese lenders, 14% other governments www.reuters.com/business/fin...

There's an irreality about the tax debate in the UK *No, we're not taxed that much (relative to other comparable countries) *Public spending is far from high, let alone out of control *Yes, we're all going to have to pay more tax My new column for @theipaper.com inews.co.uk/opinion/lowe...

Ghana has restructured much of its external debt but the latest IMF assessment says there is still a high risk of 'debt distress' The IMF says Ghana will reach moderate risk by 2028. But external debt payments are right on the threshold - any shock will keep Ghana at high risk:

The IMF's latest update on Sri Lanka is out - GDP is higher than they expected a few years ago, which means bondholders will receive $1.2bn more in debt payments over the next 15 years. Bondholders will now be paid 30% more than government creditors after the debt restructurings

Economy doing relatively well: Coupons could rise by 25-75 basis points depending on bond series, and principal would go up by 13 percent higher principal. economynext.com/sri-lanka-to...

IMF expecting Sri Lanka to borrow $1.5bn through foreign currency bonds in 2027.

Yes, we do

IMF: Good news, Nigeria can keep paying its debt! IMF: Bad news, food insecurity and poverty have risen IMF don't say: Nigeria's public spending per person has fallen over 25% since 2015, and is projected to fall 50% by 2030

@josephestiglitz.bsky.social talked of the high interest rates charged by private creditors, and how they continue to get repaid via new loans The private creditors profit while countries in the Global South go further and further into debt We need to change the laws that incentivise this!

We’re at the multi stakeholder roundtable on sovereign #debt here at the #FfD4 conference in Seville Follow this thread for highlights 👇

Re-upping this CGD blog on debt transparency for #FFD4: Many loans to gvrnmts are not public. So taxpayers are paying off shady deals. When Cameroon made the rare move to publish all their loan contracts, they faced better lending conditions than the rest of Africa www.cgdev.org/blog/publish...

Senegal: "Debt servicing costs soared 44.5% year-on-year in the 4th quarter of 2024 to reach 822.32 bn CFAF ($1.4 bn), and grew by 23.98% in the 1st quarter of 2025 compared to the same period last year, reflecting growing obligations tied to domestic & external liabilities ..."

Journalists at the Farage press conference repeating Reform's framing of this policy as "robin hood" because the non-dom fee will be redistributed to poorer workers, whilst missing the fact that it hands tens of billions of pounds in tax cuts to the wealthiest people already living in the UK

A group of experts, convened by the late Pope Francis, have said lower-income countries urgently need debt relief. And they say legal changes in the UK are key to making it happen. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

😀 Last night UN members agreed a new process for tackling the debt crisis 😡 The EU and UK blocked it from having significant power ‼️ UN members called on the UK to pass a law to ensure private lenders take part in debt cancellation debtjustice.org.uk/press-releas...

Qatar National Bank vs Republic of South Sudan. Basic information on the case now filed in Washington DC. Those with PACER account can dig further! dockets.justia.com/docket/distr...

The UK government are blocking plans to tackle the global debt crisis. Lower-income countries are trying to get a new UN process to tackle the debt crisis in the global south. The UK and other rich countries are blocking them. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

guess which period the government could borrow at negative real interest rates

The point at which things started going wrong for our national infrastructure stands out.

WB Chief Economist: "The current [debt sustainability framework] system is too quick to decide that countries merely need loans to tide them over, when most low-income countries today are in fact insolvent and will need debt write-offs ..."

Ukrainian and European civil society organisations are warning that hedge funds could make billions out of Ukraine. We call for legal protections to ensure speculators cannot demand billions of dollars in payments from the GDP-linked warrants. www.cancel-ukrainian-debt.org/prevent-pred...

No one anywhere would want voters to elect a tier of government that just runs one largely invisible thing badly with rules and obligations it doesn’t set using money it doesn’t raise. Yet, thanks to a generation of failure on social care policy, that is now what “local government” means here.

We propose Kenya now as lead case to make global sovereign insolvency mechanisms work. ieakenya.or.ke/download/if-... @drodrik.bsky.social @jsphctrl.ft.com

#Ukraine is standing up to hedge funds that are seeking to take advantage of the Russian invasion to make big profits finance.liga.net/en/ekonomika...

“Ghana’s government doesn’t see Afreximbank as having preferred creditor status — we do not believe that their debt is senior to any other restructurable debt.” Ghana's Minister of Finance, Cassiel Ato Forson www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

African Heads of State and Finance Ministers have called for reforms to the G20 debt restructuring process, including: - agreeing a definition of comparability of treatment - suspending debt payments during negotiations - creating a legal way to enforce restructurings on any holdout creditors