The Latest on the U.N. General Assembly:
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The presidents of Argentina and Colombia warned the U.N. General Assembly that increasingly strapped emerging markets could default on their foreign debts, and called on multilateral lenders to push for changes that ease conditions.
Argentina’s Alberto Fernández said in a video message there is clearly “risk of a generalized debacle of foreign debts for developing nations,” and said there should be a “reconfiguration of global financial architecture.”
Hours earlier, his Colombian counterpart Iván Duque told diplomats assembled in New York that governments increased their indebtedness and fiscal deficits to cope with COVID-19, but credit ratings agencies still evaluate them with “pre-pandemic eyes.” He called on multilateral lenders to create a new consensus on acceptable minimum risk criteria that reflect the post-pandemic reboot period.
“Otherwise, in the short term, in the face of demand for debt and generalized increase in the cost of capital, it could precipitate a debt crisis,” Duque said.
He also proposed excluding all expenses and investments directed toward climate change from the assessment of fiscal deficits.
Credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s cut Colombia’s sovereign bond rating to junk in May, and Fitch Ratings did the same in July. Duque didn’t make explicit reference to his country’s downgrades.
Fernández, for his part, called Argentina’s indebtedness to the International Monetary Fund “toxic and irresponsible.” His predecessor, Mauricio Macri, arranged a $57 billion loan that Fernández has previously said was unpayable. His country has received $45 billion of the total, and the president refused to accept the remainder.
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NEW YORK — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has praised the “very different mood in Washington” about the urgency of dealing with climate change since President Joe Biden replaced Donald Trump.
Johnson, who is due to meet Biden at the White House on Tuesday, said the U.S. government was “passionately committed to fixing climate change.”
Johnson is due to host a United Nations climate conference in Glasgow in November, and has been using a visit to the U.N. General Assembly in New York this week to urge nations to contribute more to help poor countries tackle the crisis.
Britain welcomed Biden’s announcement Tuesday that the U.S. would double its contribution.
Johnson downplayed the likelihood of a U.S.-U.K. trade deal being struck soon, saying this week that Biden had “a lot of fish to fry.”
Johnson, a long-time backer of Brexit, has often cited the chance of a deal with the U.S. as one of the key benefits of leaving the European Union. But talks have stalled, and the U.S. has warned there will be no trade deal unless Britain resolves post-Brexit tensions with the EU over Northern Ireland that some fear could…
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