Economists call for new ‘economic architecture’ in Jubilee report

Pope Leo repeated his predecessor’s appeal for creditor nations to consider ‘reducing substantially, if not cancelling outright, the international debt that threatens the future of many countries’.

Leading economists called for urgent action and reforms to tackle the debt and development crises affecting billions worldwide in a new report marking the 2025 Jubilee.

Subtitled “A Blueprint for Tackling the Debt and Development Crises and Creating the Financial Foundations for a Sustainable People-Centred Global Economy”, the Jubilee report was published by the Vatican on 20 June. 

In the report, the Jubilee Commission – a group of more than 30 economists assembled by the late Pope Francis, led by the Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz and former Minister of the Economy of Argentina Martín Guzmán – called for “urgent relief, restructuring and reform to make the international financial system, fairer, more just and more aligned with human dignity”.

Pope Leo praised the commission’s efforts to “contribute positively to the ongoing global discussions on debt relief and provide tangible and innovative options that offer mutual benefit, thus inviting a broader coalition of support from the international community”. 

In a message read out at the report’s launch event in Rome, he repeated his predecessor’s Jubilee appeal for creditor nations to consider “reducing substantially, if not cancelling outright, the international debt that threatens the future of many countries”.

The report said nearly half the world’s population – 3.3 billion people – live in countries that spend more on debt interest payments than on health. It noted that 54 developing countries now spend 10 per cent or more of their tax revenues on interest payments alone.

“Interest payments on public debt are therefore crowding out critical investments in health, education, infrastructure, and climate resilience,” it warned.

Its recommendations included extending debt relief initiatives, creating a bankruptcy process for countries in debt crisis similar to those which exist for private companies, ending the bailouts for banks, and redesigning loan contracts to encourage long-term growth.

The report called for reform of “the entire architecture of the global economy and the systems that shape opportunity and distribute risk across the world”.

The fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, which will meet in Seville from 30 June, will discuss the Jubilee report, as will gatherings at the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September and the G20 Summit in Johannesburg in November.

Cafod’s director Christine Allen, who attended the launch in Rome, said: “In the aftermath of the Jubilee Debt Campaign at the turn of the twenty-first century, millions of dollars were released back into lower-income governments’ coffers, which meant millions of children could go to school, and receive necessary healthcare for instance, but it didn’t tackle the underlying structural issues.”

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