UNCTAD-backed borrowers’ platform prepares first Bangkok council as debt pressures mount

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UNCTAD Borrowers’ Platform Bangkok council

Highlights

The Borrowers’ Platform will hold its first Governing Council meeting in Bangkok alongside the IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings, confirming membership, adopting foundational Modalities, and electing its inaugural Chair.
Representatives from over 30 developing countries have shown interest in the Platform, with governance arrangements, technical priorities, and annual cycle preparations already underway under Egypt’s interim leadership and UNCTAD support.
UNCTAD analysis finds borrowing costs rose faster than government revenues in 2018–2024, with higher interest payments reducing fiscal space for development in 99 developing countries affecting 5.5 billion people.

Bangkok meeting sets governance agenda

As reported by UN Trade and Development, the Borrowers’ Platform is gaining momentum ahead of its first ministerial-level Governing Council meeting, with officials highlighting progress made since its launch in April. Representatives from more than 30 countries joined a recent information session at UNCTAD, underscoring wider interest in the Member State-led initiative.

Countries working through the interim phase, led by Egypt and supported by UNCTAD as Secretariat, have already put governance arrangements in place, identified technical priorities, prepared the basis for the first annual cycle and held a first peer-learning workshop in the Maldives. The Bangkok meeting, scheduled on the margins of the IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings, is expected to confirm membership, adopt the Platform’s foundational Modalities document, elect its first Chair and issue a joint communiqué on shared priorities.

Ambassador Alaa Hegazy of Egypt, the Platform’s interim chair, says the initiative gives borrowing countries a dedicated cross-regional forum to work together and share knowledge in search of more sustainable responses to debt challenges. Membership remains voluntary for eligible net-borrowing developing countries and carries no financial obligation.

Rising borrowing costs sharpen demand

Debt pressures are increasing the urgency for a mechanism that allows developing countries to compare policy experience and strengthen their collective voice within the global financial system. The Platform is designed to fill what UNCTAD describes as a long-standing gap in the international financial architecture while complementing, not replacing, existing debt mechanisms.

UNCTAD analysis shows borrowing costs have risen much faster than government revenues over the past decade. Between 2018 and 2024, higher interest payments reduced fiscal space for development in 99 developing countries, affecting 5.5 billion people.

Against that backdrop, the Platform is intended to support peer learning, knowledge sharing and capacity building, while also offering targeted technical assistance and building a shared repository of data, case studies and country experience. Its structure combines political direction from the Governing Council with operational oversight from a Steering Committee of senior technical officials, while member countries elect a rotating chair each year.

In our earlier article on the surge in U.S. Treasury yields, we explained how the jump in benchmark rates was rippling through global markets and lifting borrowing costs for governments, companies, and households. We also noted that periods of rapidly rising yields have often coincided with financial stress and highlighted potential pressure points as financing conditions tighten across sectors.

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