Development Finance International

DFI led this workshop for LATINDADD staff and partners, which discussed the very high burden of debt service in Latin America, drawing on the Debt Service Watch (DSW) 2025 database, and suggesting implications for the Jubilee debt cancellation campaign asks. 43 participants from 13 countries attended the webinar. DFI presented the methodology of the DSW database and its findings for 2025, which show that the debt crisis in LAC is worsening sharply. For the 16 Latin American countries at the workshop, average debt service has risen to 37% of revenues, 32% of spending, twice as high as education or social protection spending and three times health spending. But when all of LAC is analysed, the numbers rise much higher, to an average 49% of revenues.

Austerity is making the crisis worse, and debt conversions and refinancings are providing little or no fiscal space to increase spending on citizens’ key social needs. DFI suggested real solution: a 10% of revenues debt service cap, a 10-year debt service holiday, measures to reduce the domestic debt burden and special measures for disaster-hit countries. The workshop was highly interactive with participants validating the DSW data or providing more alternative national sources, and supporting the suggested detailed campaign planks for the Jubilee campaign.