In the context of the pandemic crisis, the Emerging Markets Investors Alliance (EMIA) published a white paper that seeks to advance long term, sustainable solutions to the debt crisis in emerging markets by fostering a consensus among policy makers, government officials and investors.
EMIA is a non-profit organization that enables institutional emerging market investors to support good governance, promote sustainable development, and improve investment performance in the governments and companies in which they invest.
The authors consider the crisis as an opportunity to engage policy makers, government officials, and investors to steer the debate beyond the provision of official sector liquidity and beyond debt restructuring, and therefore advocate a 3 point agenda:
1) Encourage policies to improve debt oversight to ensure that debt relief or borrowing is used for the intended purposes
2) Enhance fiscal transparency to strengthen government finances and accountability to stakeholders
3) Accelerate efforts toward environmental sustainability to strengthen resilience, promote long-term growth and secure the planet’s future
The white paper was presented in an online event held in July 2020 as an iteration of the Debt, Sustainability and Governance Forum Speaker Series, featuring Vitor Gaspar, Director, Fiscal Affairs Department, International Monetary Fund; with introductory remarks by Alliance President Ashok Parameswaran; and moderated by Director of Sovereign Research Fergus McCormick.