Pakistan spent over 40% of its national budget paying back interest on national debt in 2024.
This money could be spent on health, education, and tackling the climate crisis – instead it’s being channelled back into the Global North to make the corporations and the super-rich richer. But the UK could help change this by backing debt cancellation now.
This debt isn’t an accident – it’s a legacy of colonialism and an economic system designed to keep richer nations on top. Global South countries have been forced to use foreign loans from the Global North banks and institutions like the World Bank to pay for basic goods like food and energy.
But these debts are almost impossible to repay – with staggering interest payments and other damaging strings attached. As Global South debt grows – forcing countries into a destructive cycle of more loans and debts – economically poorer nations get poorer, while richer nations like the UK get richer.
The UK built its wealth through this system, extracting natural resources, exploiting labour and burning fossil fuels. It has a responsibility to help end Global South debt, so that countries on the frontlines of the climate crisis can build debt-free, greener economies, tackle climate breakdown, and work to end poverty.
World leaders, including from the UK, will be meeting at the UN summit on global economic challenges (4th International Conference on Financing for Development) from 30 June. This is a crucial moment to push for national debt cancellation – email the Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, now and urge the UK government to: back Global South debt cancellation – and help create a fairer, more democratic economic system.
Together, we can push for economic justice and climate justice – take action now.
