Responsible lending
Principles for how governments should behave when borrowing and lending money are being blocked by the UK government
The UK government is blocking attempts at the United Nations (UN) to discuss how governments can lend and borrow responsibly. The news comes from the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in Doha, Qatar.
UNCTAD has been working on draft principles of how governments should behave when borrowing and lending money. The UK government has been insisting that reference to these principles is removed from UNCTAD’s mandate.
The draft principles include making lenders responsible for assessing a borrower’s ability to repay; requiring lenders to investigate the likely effects of projects they fund; and ensuring meaningful oversight of state borrowing.
The British government’s behaviour was described as ‘appalling’ by Tim Jones of the Jubilee Debt Campaign.
He said: ‘The UK has consistently tried to marginalise UN bodies in global economic reform, despite the fact the UNCTAD has a much better record than the IMF of predicting financial crises and advocating policies which could assist the building of a fairer world.’
