Dear Ministers, 

The world is on the brink of catastrophe. Rising poverty levels, increased risks of pandemics and diseases, and more frequent extreme weather events have exposed the fragility of our current financial systems.

It is the most vulnerable people who shoulder the biggest impacts from this system breakdown. Ensuring our multilateral systems are fit to tackle these enormous challenges that disproportionately impact lower income countries is a critical moral and practical collective responsibility.

Time is running short and modest incrementalism won’t be enough. Action to deliver on real change that prioritises people must start now. As you gather in Marrakesh, we, the undersigned, urge you to fast track progress on the following and to lay the foundation for a liveable, prosperous planet. 

1. Commit to tripling Multilateral Development Bank finance as laid out by the G20’s expert group, including a commitment to a strong  IDA21 replenishment, in line with the goal to triple IDA by 2030, and a general capitalization increase conditional on quick implementation of CAF reforms and full Paris alignment, including a phase out of all support to fossil fuel projects by 2024. As part of these efforts, agree with credit rating agencies that, by April 2024, they will count callable capital in risk assessments — a move that could unlock hundreds of billions in low cost lending. 
2. Deliver the $100 billion promised in channelled Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), including additional subsidy support to the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust. In addition, ministers should announce a new Working Group with a political mandate to devise technical solutions to unlock more options on how to maximise the use of SDRs for low and lower middle income countries and how SDRs can more effectively be used as a counter-cyclical, counter-crisis tool in the future. At least five advanced economies must pledge support to African Development Bank’s hybrid capital instrument.
3. Develop guidelines on pandemic investments to leverage the Resilience and Sustainability Trust (RST)beyond climate finance: The RST, established in April 2022, was set up to provide support to countries addressing “long-term structural challenges, including climate change and pandemic preparedness”. While over 60% of International Monetary Fund (IMF) member countries are interested in instituting pandemic PPR-related measures in an RST-supported programme, none of the current RST-supported programmes address the issue. The IMF should work with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and World Bank to urgently develop guidelines on pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response (PPR) investments, and work with partners so more countries draw on the resources available for pandemic preparedness.
4. Deliver on the $100B Climate Finance promise, including at least $40B for adaptation, and provide full transparency of 2021-2023 disbursements and a breakdown of planned pledges through to 2025. Ministers in Marrakech must also recognise loss and damage as a critical part of the climate finance architecture and the need for additional sources of financing, including international taxes or levies. Meaningful progress on fossil fuel subsidies is required, including a commitment by the G20 and other wealthy nations to phase out fossil fuel subsidies by 2025 and provide implementation plans by the Spring meetings 2024.
5. Drive urgent revamp of the G20 Common Framework, including an immediate debt standstill from all creditors upon application and expanding eligibility to middle income countries. Supporting better and more coordinated borrower country negotiation would facilitate a more effective process. G20 countries, other shareholders and bilateral creditors and the World Bank should start fully implementing state contingent clauses in the case of external shocks, including pandemics and natural disasters. 

We hope you will use the opportunity of these meetings to take action with the urgency the moment requires. We stand ready to support ambitious efforts to achieve this.

Yours sincerely

Friederike Röder, Vice President Global Policy and Advocacy, Global Citizen

Amy Dodd, Policy Director, the ONE Campaign

Eloise Todd, Executive Director & Co-Founder, Pandemic Action Network

Ronan Palmer, Associate Director Clean Economy, E3G

George Darlington Hashaka, Founder and Executive Chairman, Uganda Peace Foundation

Prof. Rym Ayadi, President and Founder, Euro-Mediterranean Economists Association - EMEA

Jonathan Glennie, Co-Founder, Global Nation

Jamie Drummond, Co-Founder, ONE; Founder, Sharing Strategies

Khalil Eloaurdighi, Director, Thought Leadership, Equal International (Think Equal)