VATICAN CITY, June 20, 2025 – A groundbreaking report by world-leading debt and development experts calls urgently for decisive action and structural reforms to address the growing debt and development crises affecting billions of people around the world. “The Jubilee Report: A roadmap to address the debt and development crises and lay the financial foundations for a sustainable, people-centered global economy,” published today, was written by Pope Francis’ Jubilee Commission—a group of more than 30 top international experts led by Professor Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel laureate and professor at Columbia University, and Martín Guzmán, former Minister of Economy of Argentina and professor at the School of International and Public Affairs of the Columbia University. The report continues Pope Francis' repeated calls for global debt relief—calls now promoted by his successor, Pope Leo XIV—and combines for the first time a sound economic approach with the moral imperative to act. The document convincingly demonstrates that the debt crisis affecting the global financial system is fueling a development crisis. Fifty-four developing countries already spend 10% or more of their tax revenues solely on interest payments. In these countries, the average interest burden has practically doubled in the last decade. This diverts essential resources that should be allocated to health, education, infrastructure or climate resilience, depriving millions of people of vital healthcare, food or employment.

However, this does not have to be the case. There are solutions that are economically sound and beneficial for all parties. In the face of growing uncertainty in global markets and dwindling refinancing options for countries with high levels of debt, the report charts a bold and achievable path that, through shared responsibility, could avoid a “lost decade” for development and climate action, and instead promote economic recovery and long-term development. The report proposes a moral and practical vision: global finance must serve people and the planet—not punish the poorest to protect profits. Among the report's recommendations are:

1. Improve debt restructuring:Reform the policies of multilateral institutions and legislation in key jurisdictions (such as New York State and the United Kingdom) to incentivize creditors and debtor governments to reach more sustainable and timely agreements.
2. End bailouts of private creditors: Multilateral institutions such as the International Monetary Fund must modify their policies and practices to favor sustainable recoveries, and not de facto bail out private creditors or impose suffocating austerity policies.
3. Strengthen domestic policies: Developing countries must more actively use controls on capital movements to reduce destabilizing flows and create an environment conducive to long-term investments, in addition to investing in structural transformation.
4. Improve transparency: Greater transparency in financial policies should be promoted, also ensuring broad social support.
5. Reimagining global finance: A comprehensive transformation of international financing models is necessary to drive sustainable development, including lines of financing that promote long-term growth.

The results of the report will be discussed during the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development, to be held in Seville, Spain, from June 30 to July 3, as well as in other highly relevant international forums, including the Assembly General Assembly in September (New York) and the G20 Summit in November (Johannesburg, South Africa).

Click on download file (button below) to access the report.