PGII Will Channel a Lot of Private Capital to Developing Countries But What About the Debt?

US President Joe Biden speaks next to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during the first day of the G7 leaders' summit held at Elmau Castle, southern Germany on June 26, 2022. JONATHAN ERNST / POOL / AFP

Even as the G7 was unveiling its new Partnership for Global Infrastructure Investment (PGII), protesters in the Alpine town hosting the summit were calling for more action on infrastructure-related debt. This debate has recently centered around the impact of Chinese debt, particularly as part of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative. 

However, during the G7 summit, organizations like Oxfam highlighted the role of Western private sector lenders in the growing debt crisis sweeping across the Global South. “[Poor nations] are spending more repaying BlackRock than they are on health or education combined,” said Max Lawson, Oxfam’s inequality policy program. 

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by Cobus van Staden

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