The Pacific Regional Debt Conference held virtually between 5 and 8 April 2022 was convened by Fiji and Tuvalu in response to a recommendation of the Pacific Island Forum Economic Ministers Meeting of July 2021 and was co-organized by the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat and ESCAP.
The Conference was held against the backdrop of Debt Sustainability Analysis of the IMF and the World Bank that assessed several Pacific small island developing States (SIDS) to be at a high levels of debt distress and, thus, constrained in their capacity to continue with much needed fiscal support for socio-economic recovery and effectively pursue SDGs.
While some Pacific SIDS benefitted from emergency loans from the IMF Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust and from the G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative, there is a need to explore other options and strategies in addressing the challenges posed by the elevated debt levels of the Pacific SIDS, including debt for climate swaps.
The objective of the Conference was to provide a forum for debtors and creditors to discuss and explore sustainable regional and national options and strategies to address the debt stress vulnerabilities of the Pacific SIDS associated to both the COVID-19 pandemic and climate risks.
To improve the Pacific’s resilience to extreme fiscal and climate shocks, the Conference also discussed innovative financing solutions and options, ranging from domestic financing toolkits, debt restructuring, debt and fiscal policy review, counter-cyclical and fiscal buffer funding approaches, climate and disaster financing mechanisms, and the Pacific Resilience Facility.
The Conference also highlighted the critical linkages between fiscal and debt relief, fiscal governance and effectiveness, and innovative financing, needed to create fiscal space for PSIDS for sustainable economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and accelerate investments in climate resilience and the Sustainable Development Goals.
This side event presents the outcome of the Pacific Regional Debt Conference and brings on board high-level officials of SIDS from the Pacific and the Caribbean to discuss common debt challenges and the suitability of various potential solutions to such challenges, including those discussed at the Pacific regional debt conference.
