Developing countries established a permanent forum to collectively manage sovereign debt challenges on Tuesday, launching the first-ever Borrowers’ Platform on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington, with UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) appointed as the platform’s secretariat.
The platform brings together finance ministers and central bank governors from developing countries to improve debt management capacity. UN Secretary-General António Guterres described the initiative as a “breakthrough in global financing,” adding that it gives borrowing countries a space to sit together, learn from each other, and speak with a collective voice.
The launch addressed a structural imbalance that has long defined the global financial system. Penelope Hawkins, acting head of the Debt and Development Finance branch at UNCTAD, noted that the Paris Club has had a 70-year head start, stressing that the new structure must become permanent. The Common Framework, a G-20 initiative launched during the COVID-19 pandemic, has so far produced only three full restructuring efforts, fuelling frustration among borrowing nations.
External debt across the developing world stood at USD 11.7 trillion in 2024, contributing to a global public debt stock of USD 102 trillion. Developing countries’ share of that debt has grown at twice the pace of advanced economies since 2010, according to UNCTAD. Debt service costs are approaching USD 920 billion annually, and 54 countries home to 3.4 billion people now spend more on debt servicing than on either health or education.
The launch brought together representatives from 30 countries, including prime ministers, 16 ministers and central bank governors. Egypt’s Finance Minister Ahmed Kouchouk, whose country chairs the working group, said the voice of borrowing nations belongs at the very centre of the global financial dialogue.
The platform traces its origins to the UN Secretary-General’s Expert Group on Debt, which proposed its creation in 2025, and was formally mandated through the Sevilla Commitment adopted at the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development in July 2025.
Led by a working group including Egypt as chair and Pakistan as vice-chair, alongside Colombia, Honduras, Maldives, Nepal and Zambia, member states agreed to expand participation, establish interim governance arrangements and define a work programme ahead of the IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings in October 2026.
