A new country-led borrowing initiative, the Borrowers’ Platform, was launched on Wednesday on the margins of the annual IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington, D.C., according to a press release by UN News. The initiative is supported by UNCTAD and aims to give developing nations a stronger collective voice in debt negotiations. It arrives as economic shockwaves from the Middle East conflict reach import-reliant Caribbean nations and Pacific Island States, where spiking oil prices are driving up the cost of food and other essentials.
Developing countries have faced mounting debt pressures over the past decade, with debt servicing costs squeezing national budgets. Least developed countries now pay nearly a quarter of their revenue to external creditors. In total, 54 countries, home to 3.4 billion people, spend more on debt than on health or education. The collective external debt burden of developing nations reached $11.7 trillion in 2024. According to UN analysis, the military escalation in the Middle East could push more than 30 million people into poverty worldwide, undoing years of development work.
The Borrowers’ Platform is open to borrower nations of all sizes across different stages of development and indebtedness. It will allow member states to share knowledge, amplify their collective voice, and strengthen their ability to respond to debt challenges. UN Secretary-General António Guterres, whose Expert Group on Debt proposed the idea for the Platform in 2025, described it as a “breakthrough in global financing.” He compared it to long-established groups for creditor countries, such as the Paris Club, the London Club, and the Institute of International Finance. UNCTAD serves as the secretariat for the initiative.
Guterres pointed out that borrowers have often been excluded from discussions about their own debt levels, finding themselves paying, on average, interest rates that are more than twice as high as those faced by advanced economies. He said this “leaves developing countries at a distinct disadvantage in accessing the financing they need, which is another clear example of the inequality lurking at the heart of the global financial architecture.” He also addressed the “intensifying pressures” caused by the war in the Middle East, which is leading to rising raw material costs, slower growth, and strained supply chains on top of higher fuel prices. The Platform, he noted, will give borrower countries tools to engage with creditors on equal terms and send a clear market signal that could potentially lower borrowing costs.
“Developing countries are rising economic actors,” Guterres argued, “and global governance must adapt accordingly.”
The Borrowers’ Platform is designed to fill a gap in the international financial architecture by providing a borrower-led space for knowledge sharing. For decades, developing countries have faced debt challenges arising not only from country-specific circumstances but also from structural weaknesses in the global financial system. As more revenue goes to debt repayments, less remains available for public services and climate action. The Platform places borrower nations at the center of discussions about their own financial futures. It represents a State-led effort to address long-standing structural imbalances in how developing countries access and manage external financing.
