54 countries, including Haiti, that host more than half of the poorest people in the world, including 10 from Latin America and the Caribbean, but which represent less than 3% of the world economy, need urgent debt relief to avert a major crisis, according to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

According to a UNDP report, if these states fail to restructure their debt, there will be a significant increase in poverty and critical investments to protect against climate change will not materialize.

Argentina, Venezuela, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador or Haiti are on this list, which also includes important countries from other parts of the world such as Ukraine, Egypt, Pakistan, Iraq or Afghanistan.

The UNDP warns that rapid changes in financial markets, at a time of fiscal contraction and rising interest rates, are suffocating many developing economies. As an example, the UNDP points out that 19 countries are now paying more than 10 percentage points above US Treasuries to finance themselves in the markets, making it virtually impossible for them to access funds.

The UNDP says rich countries must act because "they have the resources to end a debt crisis [...] which has deteriorated rapidly in part because of their own domestic policies" that triggered the rise in interest rates and which caused many investors to flee developing economies.

According to Achim Steiner Administrator of the UNDP "relieving the debt of these States would imply only a small effort for the rich countries while the cost of inaction is brutal for the poorest in the world [...] We cannot afford to repeat the mistake of helping too little, too late in managing the debt burden of developing economies," he insisted.

SL/ HaitiLibre