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Samson: The United Nations warns: 50 countries will declare bankruptcy if the rich world does not help them
11th November, 2022
The head of the United Nations Development Program warned today, Friday, that about 50 of the poorest developing countries will stop paying their debts and de facto bankruptcy, unless the “rich world” provides them with urgent assistance.
The British newspaper, The Guardian, said, in a report published by Achim Steiner, Director of Global Development at the United Nations, and seen by Shafaq News Agency, “Inflation, the energy crisis and high interest rates create conditions in which an increasing number of countries are exposed to the risk of default, with possible repercussions.” disastrous for its people.
Steiner added, “There are currently 54 countries on our list of countries that are likely to default, and if we have more shocks – where prices go up more, the cost of borrowing, energy prices, food prices – it becomes almost inevitable that we will see a number of These economies are unable to pay.” “This creates a catastrophic scenario – look at Sri Lanka – with all the social, economic and political implications that this has,” Steiner continued.
Poor countries and climate
Speaking at the UN Climate Summit, Steiner said that “any such default will create more problems to solve the climate crisis,” noting that “it certainly will not help climate action.”
Steiner also warned that “without measures to help them with debt, poor countries will not be able to deal with the climate crisis,” stressing that “the climate crisis compounds the problem, as countries face increasing impacts from bad weather.” Steiner continued to warn that “some developing countries are at risk of abandoning the UN climate talks if developed country governments fail to deliver on a long-term promise to poor countries of $100 billion in annual aid, to help them reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the effects of extreme weather.”
And the UN official stated, “If the United Nations climate summit does not provide a path close to $100 billion, I think that many developing countries will leave the Sharm el-Sheikh summit at least to reflect on their commitments to the global climate process… I say this deliberately, because this does not mean that they will stop.” About doing things at home, which they already do.”
He also warned that countries could slow down their efforts. “Part of accelerating our ability to deal with climate change is getting all countries to do something. So the biggest risk is that we slow things down again, some might say more,” he said. But, he added, developing countries are already taking their own actions to tackle the climate crisis: “The developing world is already investing multiples of $100 billion to help speed up the energy transition. The way they look at taxpayers in London, Berlin or Paris is why we are being asked to pay for everything that happens.” Outside our country in the developing world?
Loss and Damage Fund
One of the most contentious issues in the climate summit talks is loss and damage, referring to the more devastating effects of severe weather, from which countries cannot protect themselves.
The issue is often misunderstood, Steiner said: “It is based on something that is well-established practice in many of our countries. When unusual floods happen, it’s basically the taxpayer that gets involved, with the government paying homeowners for damages that insurance companies didn’t reimburse.”
Steiner added, “This is why the Loss and Damage Fund is needed, this is where the injustice of climate change becomes so egregious in the eyes of many developing countries. They weren’t even a remote major causal factor in the climate crisis, they are now paying an extraordinary price.” through the harm they suffer.”
Steiner predicted there would be no final settlement at the climate summit of how the L&D mechanism would work, but said the countries that meet in Egypt, where talks are now about halfway there, should be able to make significant progress. LINK
