Responding to the Sevilla Commitment – the outcome document of the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4), finance ministers and central bank governors of borrowing developing countries launched a platform to share experiences and practical solutions, learn from each other, strengthen capacity to manage and respond to debt challenges, and engage more effectively in global financial and debt discussions.

According to the communiqué issued following the launch, the Borrowers’ Platform will enable borrowing developing countries to “discuss technical issues, share information and experiences in addressing debt challenges, increase access to technical assistance and capacity building in debt management and debt sustainability analysis, promote responsible lending and borrowing principles, and strengthen borrower countries’ voices in the global debt architecture.”

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A news release from UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) notes that the Platforms is not a crisis coordination mechanism, a forum for collective debt restructuring negotiations, or a standard-setting or collective bargaining entity. Instead, it is a forum for borrower countries with different experience, stages of development, levels of indebtedness, and debt sustainability profiles, to engage in peer learning, experience sharing, and advocacy in a voluntary and non-binding manner.

Speaking at the launch event, UN Secretary-General António Guterres welcomed the creation of the Borrowers Platform as an essential instrument to enable “a change in power relations” for a fair international financial architecture and a more equitable international financial and economic ecosystem.

Per the communiqué, Egypt was elected Interim Chair to oversee the work of the Transitional Committee to guide the finalization of the Modalities of the Platform. The Working Group on the Borrowers’ Platform, chaired by Egypt and vice-chaired by Pakistan, which had prepared the Draft Modalities Document, included representatives of Colombia, Honduras, Maldives, Nepal, and Zambia.

The Borrowers’ Platform seeks to address the rising debt pressures. In 2024, developing countries’ external debt burden reached USD 11.7 trillion. With debt servicing costs exploding, in 2024, developing countries spent nearly 10% of their government revenue on interest payments to foreign creditors, whereas least developed countries (LDCs) pay nearly a quarter of their revenue to external lenders. According to UNCTAD, 54 countries now spend more on debt than on health or education.

UNCTAD will provide Secretariat services to the member State-led Platform.

The Borrowers’ Platform was launched on 15 April 2026 in Washington, D.C., US, in the margins of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)/World Bank Spring Meetings. [Borrowers’ Platform] [SDG Knowledge Hub Story on FfD4]