December 10^th, 2020

Your Excellency António Guterres

Secretary General of the United Nations

Your Excellency Kristalina Georgieva

Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund

Your Excellencies

The Presidents of the Multilateral Development Banks

We are writing to support the extension of the Debt Service Suspension Initiative(DSSI) (of the Group of 20) to the middle-income countries in need, via a specific financial mechanism.

Even before the COVID-19, the fiscal space to increase resources had become limited in a number of middle-income countries and their total external debt had more than doubled in the last decade. With the surge of the second wave of the coronavirus crisis, the domestic public resources are severely impacted due to the decline in tax and non-tax revenues. In some middle-income countries, the reimbursement of the interest and principal of the external debt represent over one-third of the State Budget of 2021. With the current levels of their public debt having approached the sustainability limit, and their sovereign rating, raising financial resources on the financial markets is becoming even more difficult. Meanwhile, the governments are facing urgent expenses to fight the pandemic and to cope with its socioeconomic disastrous impact on the most vulnerable people and the microenterprises. Without adequate public interventions many countries including from the middle-income group, are exposed to huge increase in poverty, unemployment, inequality and social uprising, aggravating the economic downturn.

Many calls have already been launched urging the countries of the G20 to provide debt relief to the countries that are most in need. The communique from the Extraordinary G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors’ Meeting on 13 November 2020, recognized the significant debt vulnerabilities and deteriorating outlook in many low-income countries, and the need to debt treatments beyond the DSSI on a case-by-case basis. In this context, the summit endorsed the “Common Framework for Debt Treatments beyond the DSSI” and conditioned the need for debt treatment, and the restructuring envelope, by the outcomes of the IMF-WBG Debt Sustainability Analysis (DSA) and the participating official creditors’ collective assessment. While welcoming this decision, we think that it is important to extend it to the middle-income countries in need, which are facing extreme fiscal constraints, to help them countering the health and economic crisis from COVID-19.

We would like to suggest that the IMF, the World Bank and the multilateral development banks (ADB, AfDB, IsDB, NDB,…) (MDBs) join efforts to develop a coordinated mechanism enabling the issuance of GDP-linked bonds dedicated to help the middle incomes countries in need, to reimburse their interest payment on the external debt during 2021, without the need to resort to the debt relief program, and without conditionality. In order to enable the MDBs to purchase this GDP-indexed bonds, with low interest rate in a first stage, without affecting their rating, the IMF would issue dedicated SDRs that guarantee the issuance of GDP-indexed bond by the eligible countries.

We wish that this suggestion, or any other adjusted form of it, would be helpful in conceiving innovative financial solutions, to help the most in need developing countries, and to channel the spirit of solidarity of the United Nations.

Yours sincerely

The Signatories

Nadia Abaoub, University of Manouba, Tunisia

Abdessalem Abbassi, University of Carthage, Tunisia

Samir Abdelhafidh, University of Tunis El Manar, Tunisia

Tahar Abdessalem, University of Tunis El Manar, Tunisia

Moha Asri, Abdullah, IIUM, Malaysia

Khaliq Ahmad, IIUM, Malaysia

Talha Al Siddig, Independent Economist, Saudia Arabia

Mohamed Amara, University of Tunis, Tunisia

Mehmet Asutay, Durham University, United Kingdom

Venkatesh Athreya, Gulati Institute of Finance and Taxation, India

Sanvi Avouyi-Dovi, ICN Business School, France

Mohamed Ayadi, University of Tunis, Tunisia

Toseef Azid, Qassim University, Saudi Arabia

Mounir Baccouche, University of Tunis El Manar, Tunisia

Leila Baghdadi, University of Tunis, Tunisia

Pritish Behuria, University of Manchester, United Kingdom

Karl Beitel, Independent scholar and researcher, United States

Aram Belhadj, University of Carthage, Tunisia

Mounir Belloumi, Najran University, Saudi Arabia

Ahmed Belouafi, King Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia

Hafedh Ben Abdennebi, University of Carthage, Tunisia

Safouane Ben Aissa, University of Tunis El Manar, Tunisia

Mehdi Ben Braham, University of Carthage, Tunisia

Hakim Ben Hammouda, Universitaire et ancien ministre de l'économie et des finances Tunisia

Mahmoud Ben Romdhane, Membre de l'Academie Tunisienne, Tunisia

Mehdi Bhouri, Independant economist, Tunisia

Samuele Bibi, Goldsmiths University, United Kingdom

Nitin Bisht, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, India

Korkut Boratav, Turkish Social Science Association, Turkey

Othman Bouabdallah, European Central Bank, Germany

Rached Bouaziz, University of Carthage, Tunisia

Raouf Boucekkine, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France

Zouheir Bouchaddakh, University of Tunis El Manar, Tunisia

Ali Boudhina, CDPQ, Canada

Mongi Boughzala, University of Tunis El Manar, Tunisia

Sergio Cesaratto, University of Siena, Italy

Abdelkader Chachi, Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University, Turkey

Selma Chaker, Amazon, Tunisia

Samira Chaker, University of Carthage, Tunisia

Shiney Chakraborty, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India

C P Chandrasekhar, Retired Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India

Fatma Charfi Marrakchi, University of Tunis El Manar, Tunisia

Ali Chebbi, University of Tunis, Tunisia

Houssem Eddine Chebbi, University of Tunis, Tunisia

Houyem Chekki, University of Manouba, Tunisia

Besma Chouchane, University of Sousse, Tunisia

David Cobham, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom

Ahlem Dakhloaui, University of Carthage, Tunisia

Byasdeb Dasgupta, University of Kalyani, India

Radhika Desai, University of Manitoba, Canada

Mohamed Adel Dhif, University of Carthage, Tunisia

Ramzi Drissi, University of Carthage, Tunisia

Abdul Razak Dzuljastri, IIUM, Malaysia

Moez El Elj, University of Tunis & University of Carthage, Tunisia

Abdel-Rahmen El Lahga, University of Tunis, Tunisia

Sana Essaber, University of Manouba, Tunisia

Arafet Farroukh, University of Tunis El Manar, Tunisia

Andrew Martin Fischer, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands

Smitha Francis, Institute for Studies in Industrial Development, India

Pedro Zubieta Funes, Bolivian Catholic University, Bolivia

Jaskold Gabszewicz, Retired Professor, Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium

Maher Gassab, University of Manouba, Tunisia

Moez Gharbi, University of Sousse, Tunisia

Baccar Gherib, University of Tunis El Manar, Tunisia

Jayati Ghosh, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India

Paul Gilbert, University of Sussex, United Kingdom

Ilene Grabel, University of Denver, United States

Roy Green, University of Technology Sydney, Australia

Hella Guerchi Mehri, University of Tunis El Manar, Tunisia

Öner Günçavdı, ITU, Turkey

Mohamed Haddar, University of Tunis El Manar, Tunisia

M. Kabir Hassan, University of New Orleans, United States

P. Sai-wing Ho, University of Denver, United States

Melody Hoefdraad, Anton de Kom University of Suriname, Suriname

Zohra Jabeen, Institute of management sciences, Peshawar, Pakistan

Lamia Jaidane Mazigh, University of Monastir, Tunisia

Kamel Jedidi, Columbia University, United States

Meryem Jemli, Institut National de Recherche en Génie Rural Eaux et Forêts, Tunisia

Nizar Jouini, Doha Institute, Qatar

Raja Junankar, Western Sydney University & University of New South Wales, Canberra Australia

Rami Kacem, University of Carthage, Tunisia

Mohamed Kadria, University of Sousse, Tunisia

Saul N. Keifman, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina

Wajih Khallouli, University of Tunis, Tunisia

Wael Khallouli, Old Dominion University, United States

Prabha Kotiswaran, King's College London, United Kingdom

Mokhtar Kouki, University of Carthage, Tunisia

Santosh Kumar, Shri Ram College of Commerce, India

Moez Labidi, University of Monastir, Tunisia

Oussama Lachiri, Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne, France

Hedi Larbi, Institut des Sciences Politiques, France

Rodrigo Lopez-Pablos, ITMO University, Argentina-Russia

Arthur MacEwan, University of Massachusetts Boston, United States

Ahamed Ka-meel Mydin Meera, IIUM, Malaysia

Hatem Mhenni, University of Manouba, Tunisia

John Miller, Wheaton College, United States

Héla Miniaoui, Qatar University, Qatar

Murniati Mukhlisin Tazkia, Islamic University College, Indonesia

Mahmoud Sami Nabi, University of Carthage, Tunisia

Mustapha Kamel Nabli, Former Central Bank Governor, Tunisia

Sonia Naccache, University of Tunis El Manar, Tunisia

Chaabane Naceur, CIRED-CNRS, France

Kamel Naoui, University of Manouba, Tunisia

Fethi Nouri, University of Tunis El Manar, Tunisia

Azmi Omar, INCEIF, Malaysia

Anis Omri, University of Carthage, Tunisia

Suliman Osman, Millersville university, United States

Skander Ounaies, University of Carthage, Tunisia

Mustafa Özer, Anadolu Üniversitesi, Turkey

Katharina Pistor, Columbia Law School, United States

Alicia Puyana, Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales, Mexico

Nizar Raissi, Umm A-Qura University, Saudi Arabia

Taoufik Rajhi, Universitaite et ancien ministre des réformes, Tunisia

Vikas Rawal, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India

Jean-CharlesRochet, Geneva University, Switzerland

Dhafer Saidane, SKEMA Business School, France

Hatem Salah, University of Manouba, Tunisia

Jose Antonio Sanahuja, Universidad Complutense, Spain

Sunanda Sen, Retired Prfessor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India

Hassan Shakeel, University of Management and Technology, Pakistan

Hee-Young Shin, Wright State University, United States

Nasim S Shirazi, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar

Kamal Smimou, Ontario Tech University, Canada

Stanley Soeropawiro, Itqon Foundation, Suriname

Tamas Szentes, Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary

Chokri Thabet, University of Sousse, Tunisia

Kaouther Toumi Lajimi, University of Toulouse 3 Paul Sabatier, France

Lilia Trabelsi Masmoudi, University of Carthage, Tunisia

Grais Wafik, Independent Economist, Egypt

Yavuz Yasar, University of Denver, United States

Salma Zouari, University of Carthage, Tunisia

Abderrazak Zouari, Universitaire et ancien ministre du développement régional, Tunisia