IMF, World Bank should restructure developing countries’ debt: Amitabh Kant

New Delhi: Global financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank need to entirely restructure debt of the poor and developing countries to help them achieve the sustainable development goals, India's G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant said on Tuesday.

Speaking at the CII Partnership Summit, Kant said several countries in the global south are spending more money on their debt interest payment than on critical sectors like education and healthcare.

Interest rate payment is estimated to account for nearly 24 per cent of the Indian government’s total expenditure in the current financial year, as per the Union Budget 2024-25. Nearly 37 per cent of the country’s revenue receipt goes towards interest payments.

The situation is even worse in other developing countries in the global south.

Underlining the need to redesign financial institutions to serve the needs of the global south, Kant said a large share of global growth is expected to come from emerging markets in the coming three decades.

“The only way the global south will grow, expand and progress is through technology. India has demonstrated this by technologically pole-vaulting through the Digital Public Infrastructure,” he said.

“The important thing about DPI is that it is open source, open API and globally interoperable. The data belongs to the citizen, not monopolized by big tech,” Kant added.