“Those who led us into debt were gambling, as if they were in a casino… there is talk of a crisis. No. They gambled. They lost… We cannot repay the debt because we have nothing to pay it with. If we do not pay, our creditors will not die. We can be sure of that. On the other hand, if we pay, it is we who will die. Of that we can be equally sure.”
– Thomas Sankara, 1987
The World Health Organization predicts Africa will be the next epicentre for the virus killing more than 300,000 lives and leaving 30 million people in deep poverty. Confronted with insurmountable challenges, it is not implausible that many governments in the Global South would have had no choice but to default on their debts had 76 of the world’s poorest countries not been offered a modest measure of relief by G20 states in the form of a one-year suspension on debt repayment last week.
