We, the Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development express our deepest solidarity with the people in Morocco reeling from the September 8 quake that has claimed an estimated 2200 lives thus far and injured countless others. APMDD joins the growing international call to raise the humanitarian support that the Moroccan people urgently need.
This horrific disaster hit the Moroccan people in the midst of declining resources for essential services arising from servicing a public debt burden that has doubled from 2012 levels. Debt service “represents 10 times the health budget, 3 times the education budget and 7 times the amounts dedicated to public investment.”
We call for the cancellation of the public debts being claimed from the Moroccan people, immediately and without conditions, starting with unsustainable and illegitimate debts.
We reiterate our standing demand for an automatic mechanism for debt payments suspension, debt cancellation and debt restructuring, covering public and private lenders, in the aftermath of extreme climatic events, in addition to immediate access to non-debt creating resources for loss and damages.
We challenge the IMF and World Bank to make their offer of assistance to Morocco – host of their upcoming Annual Meeting – really count by providing unconditional grants and not loans.
The disaster also serves as a stark reminder to urgently address the climate emergency. The deadly quake hits Morocco at a time when the country is facing imminent dangers of food and water scarcity due to more frequent droughts and coastal erosion linked to the intensifying climate crisis. Scientific evidence suggests that rising global temperatures exacerbate seismic activity in earthquake-prone regions. We reiterate our call to all governments and corporations to #EndFossilFuels #FastFairForever and move for a rapid, just and equitable transition towards 100% renewable energy. We demand that adequate climate finance be delivered by the Global North to make this transition possible and to cover the urgent need for resilience building and the costs of climate related losses and damages – not in the form of more loans but as grants, and without conditionalities.
We stand with peoples movements in Morocco, looking forward to mobilize and organize together in the coming weeks including the Global Week of Action for Debt, Economic and Climate Justice on October 9 to 16 while the IMF-WB Annual Meeting is happening in Marrakesh and COP28 in December.
Please reach out to us through our Coordinator, Lidy Nacpil (lnacpil@gmail.com).
Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD)=
September 11, 2023