- Regional Payment Agreements in Latin America: In a global scenario marked by the hegemony of the dollar and growing monetary tensions, Latin America is seeking alternatives that strengthen its financial autonomy and promote regional integration. Regional Payment Agreements (RPAs) emerge as a key instrument to facilitate intraregional trade, reduce dependence on major financial centres, and open the way for a more sovereign development model. Read the report here.
- Summary of the debt-swap for nature in the Galapagos Islands: The debt-for-nature swap carried out in the Galápagos in 2023 became the largest operation of its kind worldwide, linking conservation commitments with the buyback of Ecuadorian external debt bonds. Although it was presented as a milestone in financial and environmental innovation, behind the official narrative emerged tensions related to sovereignty, transparency, and the participation of local communities. This synthesis highlights the lessons and dilemmas of a process that, beyond the discourse, raises fundamental questions about who controls public resources and how decisions are made regarding the future of common goods. Read the report here.
- Financing for development. Challenges from Latin American women: Within the framework of the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FFD4), Latindadd presented the report “Financing for Development: Challenges for Latin American Women”, a rigorous analysis that exposes how current fiscal rules, debt systems, and international financing mechanisms perpetuate structural inequalities that disproportionately affect women in Latin America and the Caribbean. The report offers a critical perspective grounded in feminist and intersectional analysis, highlighting gender biases in tax policies, the regressive impact of illicit financial flows, and the commodification of wellbeing driven by the logic of blended finance. Read the report here.
- Debt as a trap: Why is Latin America paying with Human Rights?: This paper overviews the relationship between public debt, economic policies, and human rights in Latin America and the Caribbean. This perspective has often been relegated to the background in academia and politics, influenced by traditional views that offer a biased interpretation of debt sustainability, concentrating on fiscal aspects of repayment. In doing so, it undermines (or jeopardizes) the fulfilment of human rights guaranteed by current international law. Read the report here.
- Understanding debt swaps: This paper aims to act as a guide for understanding debt swaps from two complementary perspectives: a critical one that examines the current structure of these mechanisms and a constructive one focused on mitigating negative impacts on the economic interests and development of a country and its population. Read the report here.
- Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), a Lifeline for the Global South and a Boost to the Global Economy: Multiple ongoing crises highlight the need for a reform of the financial architecture. Developing countries must have access to more resources on better terms, particularly in the case of countries in the midst of a climate emergency with the greatest need for support. One factor that stands out is limited access to concessional financing for low- and middle-income countries. Such countries are facing fiscal problems due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its fallout and must deal with high levels of debt, as well as large increases in interest payments due to the US Federal Reserve rate hikes since March 2022. Read the policy brief here.
- Rethinking the Care Economy for a Just Transition in Latin America: In LAC, a large proportion of women work in the informal sector and continue to be poor, struggling with the impact of the multiple crises and the digital economy transition. Investing in social protection and comprehensive care policies and systems has multiple effects creating jobs, wellbeing, revenue and reducing poverty and inequality. This Policy Brief summarizes recommendations to the G20 and governments to address these challenges, shift the economy and advance sustainable development through the lens of care, gender equality, social cohesion, climate transition, public debt management, and financial sustainability. Read the policy brief.
- The Debt burden: a crisis that crushes public spending in LAC: The new debt crisis facing developing countries is the most severe ever recorded and has been building over the past decades, beginning with the global financial crisis of 2008-09, the volatility of commodity prices, and exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which left many countries with fiscal challenges that had to be addressed through borrowing. This was followed by rising interest rates, exchange rate, and increasing food prices. All of this threatens the achievement of development goals and the availability of resources needed to tackle climate challenges. Read the article.
- Domestic Public Debt: The report offers an analysis of the situation and implications of domestic debt in middle-income countries in Latin America, highlighting opportunities, challenges, and recommendations for more transparent and comprehensive public debt management. Read the report here.
- Debt-for-climate swaps: can they be aligned with debt and climate justice?: To many organisations, the debt-for-climate swaps are seen as an ingenious solution to increasing funds for Southern countries for climate and biodiversity spending. They are considered ingenious because they capitalise on the vast amounts of debt owed by Southern countries to creditors in the North. However, our briefing on debt-for-climate swaps raises some serious concerns about the desirability of these deals. Read our report.
- Southern debt report: characteristics and challenges: The report highlights the concerning levels of debt faced by countries in the Global South and warns of the adverse consequences for the most vulnerable individuals. The study, conducted in three regions of the South—Latin America, Africa, and Asia—analyzes the debt composition, associated risks, and proposes global policies aimed at transforming the international financial architecture with fairness. Read the report here.
- Women, debt and gender inequalities: The report explores the effects that the consequences of indebtedness in Latin America had on women and gender inequalities, putting into perspective the risks that the region faces due to an increase in public debt, a problem that has worsened with the pandemic. Latin America must not repeat past mistakes. Debt repayment should not be done by limiting human rights or hindering actions to reduce inequalities. Read the report here.
