World economists issue urgent call for action on debt crisis, in Vatican-backed report

Image: Debt Justice

A groundbreaking new report by world-leading economists calls for urgent action and systemic reforms to tackle the escalating debt and development crises affecting billions worldwide.

'The Jubilee Report: A Blueprint for Tackling the Debt and Development Crises and Creating the Financial Foundations for a Sustainable People-Centered Global Economy,' is launched today (Friday 20 June) at the Vatican. Authored by Pope Francis' Jubilee Commission - a group of over 30 leading global experts led by Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz and former Minister of the Economy of Argentina, Martín Guzmán, it calls for urgent relief, restructuring and reform to make the international financial system, fairer, more just and more aligned with human dignity."

The Jubilee Year in the Catholic Church focusses specifically on debt, forgiveness and tackling injustice and inequality.

The report follows Pope Francis' repeated calls for global debt relief, being carried forward by Pope Leo XIV, and brings together for the first time a combination of sound economic expertise with the moral responsibility to act. It powerfully illustrates why the debt crisis plaguing our global financial system is also fuelling a development crisis.

54 developing countries now spend 10% or more of their tax revenues just on interest payments. Across the developing world, average interest burdens have nearly doubled in the past decade - diverting resources away from essential investments in health, education, infrastructure, and climate resilience, and depriving millions of life-saving care, nutrition and employment.

This does not have to be the case: Solutions exist that are both economically sound and beneficial to all.

A key initiative of this Jubilee Year in the Catholic Church, the report presents a moral and practical vision for the entire world: that global finance should serve people and the planet -not punish the poor to protect profits.

As global market uncertainty grows and refinancing options diminish for debt-distressed nations, we have an opportunity to chart a bold and practical path forward, arguing that - through shared responsibility - we can avoid a lost decade for development and climate action and instead support economic recovery and long-term development.

Recommendations include ways to fix the current crisis:

- Extend COVID era debt relief initiatives, with the participation of profitable private lenders
- Stop bailing out private lenders with public money, to encourage them to stop lending recklessly
- Offer bridging loans and other finance to support countries in crisis in the short-term, as has been done before.
- Steps to prevent a debt crisis in the future:

Create a bankruptcy process for countries in debt crisis - just like the bankruptcy processes that exist to private companies facing debt distress.

End the bailouts for banks and change English law, which allows an encourages reckless lending and borrowing 'bad' deals (removing bailouts will help both sides consider the consequences)

Prioritise the quality rather than quantity of loans, focussing on long-term, stable lending for development - not expensive and risky lending for short-term political and financial gain.Re-design loan contracts to increase resilience and encourage long-term growth.

Pope Leo XIV declared at his inauguration on 18 May 2025: "In this our time, we still see too much discord, too many wounds caused by hatred, violence, prejudice, the fear of difference, and an economic paradigm that exploits the Earth's resources and marginalises the poorest." (18 May 2025, "Homily at Inauguration Mass")

The report's findings will be discussed at the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development in Seville, Spain, June 30-July 3, as well as at key global gatherings including the United Nations General Assembly in New York City in September and the G20 Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, in November.

Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz said (in Financial Times, June 2025): "There is growing consensus among experts that the current debt system serves financial markets, not people. This threatens to condemn entire nations to a lost decade - or worse. Now is the time for responsible action."

Minister of Economy for Argentina (2019-2022) Martín Guzmán said: "The debt crisis is crowding out investments in health, education, and climate and is making the economic and social situation dramatic in many developing economies. Pope Francis' call was a moral act of timely leadership. In this Jubilee year, a coalition of the willing must act to tackle the debt and development crises or else inequality of opportunity will rise and instability will spiral with worldwide medium-term destabilizing consequences."

Members of the Jubilee Commission:

- Charles Abugre, Executive Director, International Development Economics Associates (IDEAs)

- Helen Alford, President, The Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences

- Patrick Bolton, Professor of Finance and Economics, Imperial College London

- Markus Brunnermeier, Professor, Princeton University

- Lee Buchheit, Honorary Professor, University of Edinburgh Law School

- Laura Carvalho, Associate Professor, University of São Paulo; Director of Economic and Climate Opportunity, Open Society Foundation

- Grieve Chelwa, Associate Professor and Chair of the Social Sciences Department, The Africa Institute

- Maia Colodenco, Director, Global Initiatives Division of Suramericana Vision

- Ishac Diwan, Professor of Economics, American University of Beirut, and Finance for Development Lab

- Daniela Gabor, Professor of Economics and Macro-Finance, University of the West of England

- Kevin Gallagher, Professor, Boston University; Director, Global Development Policy Center

- Jayati Ghosh, Professor, University of Massachusetts Amherst

- Martín Guzmán, Professor, Columbia University, SIPA; Co-President, Initiative for Policy Dialogue

- Arjun Jayadev, Professor, Azim Premji University

- Martin Kessler, Executive Director, Finance for Development Lab, Paris School of Economics

- Haruhiko Kuroda, Former Governor of the Bank of Japan

- Mariana Mazzucato, Professor, University College London; Director, Institute for Innovation & Public Purpose

- Marcus Miller, Emeritus Professor, University of Warwick

- Mahmoud Mohieldin, United Nations Special Envoy, Financing the 2030 Agenda

- José Antonio Ocampo, Professor, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University, USA

- Mavis Owusu-Gyamfi, President and CEO, African Center for Economic Transformation

- Avinash Persaud, Special Advisor, Climate Change to the President of the Inter-American Development Bank

- Jeffrey Sachs, Professor, Columbia University

- Frederic Samama, Professor, Columbia University

- Daouda Sembene, Founder and CEO, AfriCatalyst

- Vera Songwe, Non-Resident Senior Fellow, Global Economy and Development, Brookings Institute

- Brad Setser, Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations

- Joseph Stiglitz, Professor, Columbia University; Founder and Co-President, Initiative for Policy Dialogue

- Adam Tooze, Professor, Columbia University; Director, European Institute

- Marilou Uy, Non-Resident Senior Fellow, Global Economic Governance Initiative, Boston University Global Development Policy Center

- Mark Weisbrot, Co-Director, Center for Economic and Policy Research

- Stefano Zamagni, Professor of Economics, University of Bologna

- Marina Zucker Marques, Senior Academic Researcher, Global Economic Governance Initiative, Boston University Global Development Policy Center

LINK

The Jubilee Report: A Blueprint for Tackling the Debt and Development Crises and Creating the Financial Foundations for a Sustainable People-Centered Global Economy:
www.focsiv.it/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Jubilee-report_veryfinal.pdf