{"id":4421,"date":"2024-08-20T10:21:40","date_gmt":"2024-08-20T09:21:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk\/grade\/?page_id=4421"},"modified":"2026-02-27T15:55:40","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T15:55:40","slug":"debt_briefs","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk\/grade\/research-2\/debt_briefs\/","title":{"rendered":"Debt briefs"},"content":{"rendered":"

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ next_background_color=”#ffffff” admin_label=”Banner – update background Image if required” _builder_version=”4.25.1″ _module_preset=”74c69059-8e69-4122-b1e6-dfeabf6c5711″ use_background_color_gradient=”on” background_color_gradient_stops=”rgba(0,0,0,0.6) 0%|rgba(0,0,0,0.9) 100%” background_color_gradient_overlays_image=”on” background_color_gradient_start=”rgba(0,0,0,0.5)” background_color_gradient_end=”rgba(0,0,0,0.75)” background_image=”https:\/\/medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk\/grade\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2024\/05\/logistic-function.png” min_height=”390.3px” custom_padding=”8vw||0vw||false|false” bottom_divider_style=”slant” bottom_divider_height=”10vw” bottom_divider_flip=”horizontal” locked=”off” collapsed=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.25.1″ _module_preset=”5138c454-be54-4233-bd3b-f8e6a8747976″ custom_margin=”10px||||false|false” custom_padding=”||||false|false” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.25.2″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_heading title=”Debt service and human rights ” _builder_version=”4.26.0″ _module_preset=”f0c675ea-2574-4d0e-b725-30f8550a8550″ title_level=”h4″ title_font=”Inter|Syne_weight||on|||||” title_text_align=”center” title_text_color=”#FFFFFF” title_font_size=”14px” title_letter_spacing=”1px” title_line_height=”1.4em” custom_margin=”||10px||false|false” title_font_size_tablet=”13px” title_font_size_phone=”13px” title_font_size_last_edited=”on|desktop” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{%22#003566%22:%91%22title_text_color%22%93}”][\/et_pb_heading][et_pb_heading title=”Debt briefs” admin_label=”add Report title to Heading” _builder_version=”4.27.0″ _module_preset=”ddeb8c09-9078-4424-bc15-2efb6572e28e” title_font=”|Cormorant Garamond_weight|||||||” title_text_color=”#FFFFFF” title_font_size=”72px” title_line_height=”1.15em” title_font_size_tablet=”40px” title_font_size_phone=”24px” title_font_size_last_edited=”on|phone” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_heading][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”Text” _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”2px|||||” locked=”off” collapsed=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_heading title=”Government revenue diverted to pay debt service negatively impacts the ability of governments to meet their human rights obligations” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” title_level=”h2″ title_text_align=”center” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_heading][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”-20px|auto||auto||” custom_padding=”||0px|||” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n

High debt service is incompatible with scaling-up spending on the SDGs. Evidence shows the positive impact of reducing external debt service to no more than 15% of revenue<\/a>.<\/h4>\n

GRADE was used to analyse the potential if governments had additional revenue equivalent to their external debt service in 2024\u00a0 (Debt Justice<\/a><\/span>) for 121 countries, as a percentage of government revenue.<\/h4>\n

The findings for all countries are summarised below, showing the sum of the numbers who would have access to critical services and the average percentage of those who currently do not have access. For example, on average, 18% of those without access to basic water would gain access if the external debt service were cancelled. We see that many millions would benefit from a reduction in external debt.<\/h4>\n

<\/span><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk\/grade\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2025\/04\/Debt-Justice-2024.png” title_text=”Debt Justice 2024″ align=”center” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_heading title=”The impact of reducing external debt – three different scenarios ” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” title_level=”h2″ title_text_align=”center” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_heading][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.27.0″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”||6px|||” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.27.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”-24px|||||” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n

In this paper, An analysis of the impact of debt service on human rights<\/a><\/span>,\u00a0<\/strong>we answer the question of whether public and publicly guaranteed debt should be considered a human rights issue. We consider three scenarios: the impact on human rights of reducing government external debt service to 5%, 10%, and 14%<\/strong> of the government revenue in those countries where debt service is above these levels.
As debt repayment varies by year, we used the average debt service between 2022 and 2024 from the Debt Justice UK<\/a> <\/span>dataset (collated from World Bank and IMF sources), which includes external public and publicly guaranteed debt, IMF repurchases, and charges.<\/h4>\n

[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.26.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.26.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n

Select one of the three scenarios to see the potential for human rights at country level OR DOWNLOAD all data in EXCEL<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n

[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_3,1_3,1_3″ make_equal=”on” _builder_version=”4.25.1″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_3″ _builder_version=”4.25.1″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_cta title=”Scenario I – debt service reduced to 5% of government revenue ” button_url=”https:\/\/medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk\/grade\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2024\/08\/Scenario-I-5.pdf” url_new_window=”on” _builder_version=”4.27.0″ _module_preset=”default” header_level=”h3″ header_font=”|600|||on||||” header_text_align=”center” header_font_size=”30px” background_color=”#38383f” height=”100%” max_height=”100%” link_option_url=”https:\/\/medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk\/grade\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2024\/08\/Scenario-I-5.pdf” link_option_url_new_window=”on” custom_css_main_element=”text-align: left !important;” global_colors_info=”{}” title__hover_enabled=”on|desktop” 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custom_css_main_element=”text-align: left !important;” global_colors_info=”{}” title__hover_enabled=”on|hover” header_text_color__hover_enabled=”on|hover” header_text_color__hover=”#003566″ background__hover_enabled=”on|hover” title__hover=”Scenario II – debt service reduced to 10% of government revenue” background_color__hover=”#c48e48″ background_enable_color__hover=”on”][\/et_pb_cta][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″ _builder_version=”4.25.1″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_cta title=”Scenario III – debt service reduced to 14% of government revenue” button_url=”https:\/\/medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk\/grade\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2024\/08\/Scenario-3-14.pdf” _builder_version=”4.27.0″ _module_preset=”default” header_level=”h3″ header_font=”|600|||on||||” header_text_align=”center” header_font_size=”30px” background_color=”#38383f” height=”100%” max_height=”100%” link_option_url=”https:\/\/medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk\/grade\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2024\/08\/Scenario-3-14.pdf” link_option_url_new_window=”on” custom_css_main_element=”text-align: left !important;” global_colors_info=”{}” title__hover_enabled=”on|hover” header_text_color__hover_enabled=”on|hover” header_text_color__hover=”#003566″ background__hover_enabled=”on|hover” title__hover=”Scenario III – debt service reduced to 14% of government revenue” background_color__hover=”#c48e48″ background_enable_color__hover=”on”][\/et_pb_cta][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”Call to Action” _builder_version=”4.25.1″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”#38383f” custom_padding=”10px||10px||true|false” locked=”off” collapsed=”on” global_colors_info=”{%22#003566%22:%91%22background_color%22%93}”][et_pb_row column_structure=”2_3,1_3″ _builder_version=”4.25.1″ _module_preset=”5138c454-be54-4233-bd3b-f8e6a8747976″ 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Use our realistic estimations of the impact of government revenue on fundamental rights to drive impactful change.<\/p>\n

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High debt service is incompatible with scaling-up spending on the SDGs. Evidence shows the positive impact of reducing external debt service to no more than 15% of revenue. GRADE was used to analyse the potential if governments had additional revenue equivalent to their external debt service in 2024\u00a0 (Debt Justice) for 121 countries, as a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"parent":5955,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4421","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk\/grade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk\/grade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk\/grade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk\/grade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk\/grade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4421"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk\/grade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4421\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7545,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk\/grade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4421\/revisions\/7545"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk\/grade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk\/grade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}