Three paradigm shifts
1. From debt quantity to debt quality
A growing consensus, articulated by the Jubilee Commission and others, is that the global debt crisis is not only about excessive debt levels. Rather, it is also about too much of the wrong kind of debt and too little of the kind of debt that supports sustainable development.
Much of today’s debt is short-term, procyclical, and poorly aligned with long-term investment needs. It is increasingly beholden to private creditors who put their own interests above that of the public good, prioritizing liquidity over transformation. As of 2024, low- and middle-income countries owed 72% of their long-term external debt stock1 to private creditors. In sub-Saharan Africa, the share…