Debt distress Statement by Minister Svenja Schulze

Following her conversation with Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, on 29 November, German Development Minister Svenja Schulze stated:

“About 60 per cent of all developing countries are facing debt distress – a share that is twice as high as in 2015. They lack the money for necessary investments in hospitals, schools, food systems, climate action, etc. That poses a threat to development and to social peace. IMF Managing Director Georgieva and I agree that we need an efficient and robust system to bring the high debt stocks back to a sustainable level. Countries are borrowing more and more from China and private creditors. So it is important that they, too, participate in debt regulation arrangements on comparable terms.”