Maryknoll Missioners Testify to Global Debt Crisis

In 2024, Pope Francis declared the year 2025 a Jubilee year. In Catholic tradition, a Jubilee year is inspired by the biblical tradition laid in Leviticus that calls for Jubilee years in which debts are forgiven, slaves are freed, and the land is allowed to rest. In his announcement , Pope Francis called on Catholics to focus on care for creation and economic justice.

Jubilee years have been connected to debt cancellation since the 2000 Jubilee year, when  Pope John Paul II and other faith leaders  played a pivotal role in the cancellation of over $100 billion in debt for 35 low-income countries.

In 2025 as in 2000, faith leaders around the world are campaigning for debt reform. This time around, in addition to debt cancellation, the goal is to create a UN framework to provide oversight on sovereign debt and create a more equitable marketplace.

The current debt crisis, described as a “silent development crisis” by institutions ranging from the UN to the IMF and World Bank, crowds out development spending on health and education for large debt servicing bills. According to the UN report titled A World of Debt, 3.3 billion people live in countries that spend more on debt service than on education or healthcare, making the prospect of meeting the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals ever more unlikely.

As frontliners in the fight for human dignity, Maryknoll missioners witness the tough choices demanded by the debt crisis and are involved in initiatives directly impacted by cuts necessitated by inflated debt payments. In South Sudan, Bolivia, the Dominican Republic and Kenya, Maryknoll missioners have seen the human costs bestowed by high debt. Below are their stories.

Dominican Republic

31% of the national budget spent on debt*

*According to the Development Finance International (DFI) Group, an advocacy, advisory, and research non-profit. The DFI estimates a range of 10-15% spending on debt servicing as sustainable.

An IMF report in 2024 explains how the Dominican Republic is subject to higher interest rates than those offered to peer countries. This creates a vicious cycle of increasing debt, further increasing interest rates. Meanwhile the Dominican Republic has been running on a deficit, meaning that their debt is on the rise, feeding into the debt/interest rate loop.

Maryknoll Lay Missioner Sami Scott, who is serving Haitian immigrants in the Dominican Republic notes how the underfunded public health system is unable to fully respond to the humanitarian crises on the border:

“[One initiative] is to require all patients at the public hospitals to require proof of citizenship in order to receive treatment. [Dominican President Abinader] claims that illegal migrants are overwhelming the healthcare systems, leaving nothing for Dominican citizens. One consequence of this is that pregnant Haitian women and especially those with high-risk pregnancies are afraid to go to the hospital for regular prenatal check-ups because they need to pass immigration officials who will have them deported as soon as they finish their appointment.”

The burden of debt generates dire circumstances, to the point where the Dominican Republic now spends 228 percent more on debt payments a year than it spends on healthcare. This has a direct impact on people in vulnerable situations. Sami saw this firsthand with one young woman she met:

 “I recently met a young woman who is 8 months pregnant. She has high blood pressure and last year, lost a baby at 6 months. Not only will she not get the prenatal care she needs, but she will be forced to give birth at home with no trained help. The conditions in the village where she lives are not hygienic at all. I fear for her life and that of her baby.”

Bolivia

26% of the national budget spent on debt

In the aftermath of Covid 19, Bolivia’s debt nearly tripled, and now Bolivia spends 37 percent more on debt than on healthcare. Former Maryknoll Lay Missioner Lindsay Doucette, who works on health initiatives in Bolivia, has seen the real effects of limited health spending:

“Last month, the Mario Ortiz Suarez Children’s Hospital in La Paz, Bolivia — the country’s largest public pediatric facility — was forced to suspend surgeries due to a critical shortage of anesthesia machines in the operating rooms. Despite requesting government assistance for over a year, the hospital’s urgent needs remain unmet.”

Kenya

54% of the national budget spent on debt

In Kenya’s case, an Oxfam case study showed that “debt service crowded out social spending” with 70 percent of its revenue and 54 percent of its expenditures going to debt payments last year. This is 2.4 times what Kenya spent on health, education, and social protection. The proportion of debt service in total ordinary revenue grew from 23.97 percent in 2011 to a high of 50 percent pre-pandemic. Similarly, the proportion of debt service in national government spending increased exponentially from 2015 to 2020, remaining high above the proportion of spending on education and health, which depicted a gradual downward trend.

Maryknoll Father Francis Breen, who served in Kenya for nearly three decades, described the Kenyan situation as follows:

“The government must raise money to pay its debt service, which is about 50% of the total government budget. It is this high debt service payment that prevents the government from having sufficient funds for educational and health spending.”

Insufficient funding for education has directly impacted the government’s ability to implement education reform. 

“The government does not have sufficient teachers trained to teach these subjects, nor even people trained to be the principals of the schools with this new curriculum. Lack of funds is the main impediment holding back full implementation of this program. They also wanted to build new classrooms for the Junior Secondary Schools, but there was not nearly enough money. Most students will proceed directly to grade seven in their primary schools, not much different from before.”

Maryknoll Sister Susana Nchubiri, a native of Kenya, shares how sovereign debt servicing is being passed on to Kenyan citizens with higher taxes, even in depressed rural areas.

“A poor family keeping chickens in the Tana Delta region is being pushed to pay taxes to pay the debts our country owes, and their daughter has dropped out of secondary school because they cannot afford the school fees.”

An attempt to raise taxes in June 2024 exposed the social fissures among Kenyan citizens. In anger, Generation Z Kenyans took to the streets to protest a tax increase measure that further drains a cash-strapped populace. The civil unrest led to dozens dead and hundreds injured across the country. This highlights the harsh politics that indebted countries can face raising revenue to pay off debts. 

 South Sudan

27% of the national budget spent on debt

Amnesty International highlights how the South Sudanese government budget currently prioritizes debt servicing over education:

“Seventy percent of children in South Sudan are out of school. This dire situation is exacerbated by systemic deficiencies within the education system itself and overall governance. The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) notes, for example, that the non-payment of salaries for teachers risks many of them quitting. According to the Ministry of General Education, more than half of all teachers are untrained.”

Maryknoll Lay Missioner Gabe Hurrish has witnessed these impacts through his participation in a mission school in South Sudan. He writes:

“Due to the­­­­­­ lack of trained teachers in South Sudan, many teachers are from other countries — primarily Kenya and Uganda. Tuition costs $39 per year for one child. If the family cannot pay school fees in cash, then they pay in chickens, sorghum, or firewood. Many students are sponsored by organizations, churches, or individuals.”

He also sees how investment in education can be a source of hope for the future of South Sudan:

“One thing I learned is that the children are now pressuring their parents to send them to school because they want to learn. Change is occurring in the mission parish, even as it takes time. Slowly people are seeing the benefits of education. With education comes a wider view of life and hopefully that leads to positive change and improved living conditions. The children are the agents of change. They have tasted knowledge. They are hungry for more.”