Posted on 07 June 2022
Pacific Islands are facing a serious debt crisis that has been worsened by the Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting shutdown of the tourism industry. Research based on International Monetary Fund country reports shows that average debt-to-GDP ratio for Pacific states has risen from 32.9 per cent in 2019 (before the pandemic) to 42.2 per cent in 2021.
On 5th – 8th April, the Pacific Island Forum Secretariat and the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, along with Fiji and Tuvalu, hosted the conference, which brought together Pacific Island governments and their creditor nations. The conference was aimed at finding solutions to both the debt and climate crisis, and was crucial to establishing the link between the two.