For the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, big banks have agreed to stop collecting debt payments. Now they must do the same for Zambia.

This is a big moment, not just for Ukraine but for calls for global debt justice.

This is the first time since the pandemic began that big banks have agreed to stop collecting debt payments from a country.

Lenders such as Blackrock, which has refused to cancel Zambia’s debt despite the country facing extreme hardship, have shown they can be pushed to drop their demands. 

This can’t stop with Ukraine. We need to use this moment to call on Blackrock to not just suspend the debts of countries facing crisis, but to cancel it.

Join our call for Blackrock to cancel Zambia’s debt.

Zambia vs Blackrock

Research suggests that roughly two-thirds of Zambia’s debt needs to be cancelled to make it sustainable. With over $100 million in Zambian government bonds, Blackrock is the country’s largest bondholder, and is set to make 110% profit on the debts it holds if paid back in full.

Blackrock and other private lenders have already refused attempts to renegotiate the debt and forced Zambia to default on payments. This has led to public spending cuts in Zambia with social spending falling by 21% in the past few years.

That is why we need to take a stand with the Zambian people. Will you join our calls for Blackrock to cancel the debt?

A worsening global debt crisis

Ukraine is far from being the only country suffering because of debt payments to big banks.

Recent protests in Ghana and Sri Lanka show that the costs of paying this debt is often passed onto ordinary citizens. And the banks’ refusal to cancel payments, first in the pandemic and now during a global cost of living crisis, is pushing them to breaking point.

These are just a few of the 54 countries already in debt crisis, with the situation set to worsen in the coming months.

If we don’t stand up to the banks before then, then few countries will receive the same treatment as Ukraine.

In solidarity,

Daniel Willis
Finance campaigner, Global Justice Now

Read more:

[1] ‘Cancel Ukraine’s debt’, Debt Justice, July 2022

[2] ‘There is a global debt crisis - and it won’t stop at Sri Lanka’, Jayati Ghosh, Guardian, July 2022

The Covid-19 pandemic has pushed over a hundred million people across the world into extreme poverty.