By Lisa Kadango Malango in New York United States of America
New York, September 21: President, Dr Lazarus Chakwera has called on developed countries and money lending international institutions to consider cancelling debts owed by struggling economies.
He made this plea during his address at the 78th United Nations General Assembly in New York, United States of America on Thursday.
Chakwera said that most of the countries in the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) like Malawi are distressed with the burden of never-ending repaying of debts which has seen their economies failing to catch up with the economies of the developed countries.
He added that the idea of ending poverty by the year 2030 as advocated in the Sustainable Development Goals would become another lip-service if the developing countries are not written off.
The Malawi Leader emphasized that, “We need decisions and actions on debt, for like most LDCs, Malawi is in distress because its debt is unsustainable and so our call on behalf of all LDCs on this matter remains the same: Cancel the debt”.
Chakwera reminded world leaders that the UN family has made minimal progress in past years in terms of economic growth due to among other things the COVID-19 pandemic, natural disasters and Ukraine war, emphasizing that, this was more reason the developing countries must relieved off their debts burden.
This is President Chakwera’s second address to the UN General Assembly and this call for debt cancellation is a follow-up to his maiden address last year when he appealed to advanced economy countries nations to emulate the example of China forgiving African countries some of their debts.
President Chakwera continues to engage heads of various international institutions to lobby for financial support to assist Malawi to regain economic growth.
