Nepal
has been in the news recently and for horrific reasons. If you are a member of a religious
congregation or faith group, you have probably heard someone lift them up in
prayer over the last few weeks. Their situation is terrifyingly awful and will
probably stay that way for years.
On April 15, Nepal was hit by one of the most devastating earthquakes
in modern history. The quake (and its aftermaths) took the lives of over 9,000
people and wounded or destroyed the homes and towns and livelihoods of millions
more. The numbers are so staggering they can easily sound like bumper stickers and
statistics instead of mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers and children, all
of whom deserved to live and love and have meaningful lives in the middle of some
already incredibly difficult conditions.
Here are some of those statistics: According to a study
recently released by the United Nations, twelve babies are born every hour in one
of the earthquake-impacted regions of Nepal that doesn’t have basic health
care.[1]
Clean water, stable homes, basic roads, are all desperately threatened. Even
before the earthquake, Nepal was ranked 145th out of 187 countries on the United
Nations Human Development Index. In addition to having no ocean access, little arable
farmland, and few easily accessible natural resources, it also has been stricken
for decades with civil wars, palace coups, and corrupt leaders. All of which
make economic development daunting under the best of circumstances.
And now this.
There is one area of the crisis where you can help. It’s an
issue that few people realize and few in the media report on. That is, much of
Nepal’s “ordinary” attempts at economic development have been hindered for
decades by an enormous and growing external debt.
That sounds geeky and complicated, but here is the breakdown of what Nepal owes bank and oother lenders:
- $1,100 million to the World Bank;
- $1,200 million to non-World Bank multilateral agencies (such as the Asian Development Bank);
- $250 million to governments (like the US and others);
- $64 million to the International Monetary Fund
- $1 million to private lenders. [2]
What that means in day-to-day money is that Nepal—again one
of the poorest countries in the world—pays nearly $600,000 in debt payments every single day.[3]
To put that in perspective, it's helpful to note that the US typically gives Nepal about $15 million a
year in foreign aid. Since the earthquake, we have increased that up to $25
million.[4]
That’s a lot of money. However, Nepal pays back,
out of the country (to the World Bank, the US, etc.) over $27 million every six weeks! Imagine how many roads, homes, and schools, could be
built with more than America’s entire annual donation every month and a half.
Even if you believe that some of that will be spent badly through corruption
and faulty financial systems (less likely during such a disaster, but not
impossible), it still would not be the absolute net loss to the economy and
growth that it is now.
One organization that is in the forefront of lobbying the
IMF and others to cancel those debts is the faith-based Jubilee USA Network.
You may have read about them for their similar lobbying efforts in 2010, following
the disastrous earthquake in Haiti. Haiti was also weighted down with external (and
ancient) debts that were nearly impossible to pay off before the hurricane, and
out of the question afterwards. And last year, during the outbreak of Ebola in West
Africa, Jubilee (and others) pushed successfully to have the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) establish a “Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust” (CCR), which
provides relief to poor countries after a natural disaster or health crisis. When
the trust was established, it was able to cancel $100 million in debt for
Ebola-impacted West African countries. Not bad work for a tiny organization of religious
people that survives off of individual donations and rummage sales from
churches, synagogues and mosques.
If Jubilee is successful this time around, Nepal is likely
to qualify for around $23 million from the IMF. That doesn’t sound like much, but
the IMF is a sort of “gatekeeper” for many of the other lending countries and agencies.
If the IMF cancels major debts of Nepal, then the US, Europe, the World Bank,
and regional development banks will follow suit. Hundreds of millions could be
freed up for targeted and specific
relief and development work.
Here are the guidelines for qualifying,
according to the IMF. The country must be suffering from a natural catastrophic
and:
- Have a per capita income below US$1,215;
- Have the disaster directly affect at least one third of the population; and
- Have it destroy more than a quarter of the country’s productive capacity…[5]
First, Click
here to sign a petition to the IMF to encourage them to open the CCR trust to
Nepal. Nepal almost definitely qualifies for
that, but if the IMF receives a significant number of names on a petition, it will be a serious encouragement to them in their deliberations.
Second, Click here to make a donation
to the tremendous work that this small-but-aggressive, under-the-radar
organization does for economic justice and responsible lending and borrowing
all around the world. They survive off of small donations from individuals like
you and me and could use your support.
Third, Click here if you would
like to play a larger part: volunteer, host a speaker, start a chapter, etc. Do
you belong to a religious congregation or a social service organization that
would be interested in joining Jubilee as a group? Then Click here
to go to their “Jubilee Congregation” page.
I know it sounds self-serving for me to say this, since I have
been with them since their founding fifteen years ago, but they are a solid,
responsible organization that has done amazing work over the years, and deserve
your help. The good people of places like Nepal deserve it.
Stan Duncan
(Stan Duncan is an economist and a pastor with the United Church of Christ. He is presently serving as interim pastor at the Four Corners Community Chapel in Cumberland, RI, and is on the national Board of Directors for the Jubilee USA Network)
[1]
“Nepal earthquake: IMF aid likely as toll reaches 3,200,” Jerin Mathew, April
27, 2015 http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/nepal-earthquake-imf-aid-likely-toll-reaches-3200-1498455).
[2]
“External debt is a cancer to Nepal. Cancel it now!” Sunil Pant, May 15, 2015 (http://scroll.in/article/727811/external-debt-is-a-cancer-to-nepal-cancel-it-now).
[3]
Jubilee USA Network report, “Devastated Nepal Daily Pays $600,000 on Debt,” May
15, 2015 (http://www.jubileeusa.org/press/press-item/article/devastated-nepal-daily-pays-600000-on-debt.html).
[4]
“U.S. Increases Funding to Nepal Earthquake Relief Effort,” Alfonso E. Lenhardt,
May 5th 2015 (http://blog.usaid.gov/2015/05/u-s-increases-funding-to-nepal-earthquake-relief-effort).
[5]
It goes on to add, “as estimated by early indications such as destroyed
structures and impact on key economic sectors and public institutions, or
caused damage deemed to exceed 100 percent of GDP.” The Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust, February 13, 2015,
pp. 1-2 (http://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/facts/pdf/ccr.pdf).
