Press releases

Governments must build back better, low carbon, economies in the wake of the coronavirus to avoid fuelling the climate crisis, warned Oxfam today ahead of the Petersberg Climate Dialogue on 27 – 28 April. The virtual meeting will bring together government ministers from across the globe to discuss international climate action. 

With shock and sadness 16 humanitarian organizations received the news of a fatal shooting incident involving a vehicle of the World Health Organization (WHO) carrying COVID-19 test samples in Rakhine State, Myanmar.

According to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the impact of the coronavirus pandemic could increase the number of people at risk of a food insecurity and malnutrition from 17 million to 50 million people between June and August 2020.  

Despite the clear message President Malpass sends on the critical importance of addressing debt, the Bank is the only one to fail to make any commitment on debt relief, said Oxfam today.

Oxfam together with our partners have scaled up our humanitarian programs to fight coronavirus in 14 states across India. We are providing food to 40,000 poor people, 40,000 cooked meals to migrant laborers, and distributing 2,660 safety kits to frontline workers. In addition, Oxfam has reached 4.5 million people through awareness initiatives.   

The IMF has already said that the coronavirus pandemic will trigger the worst economic fallout since the Great Depression —if ever there was a time to expand SDR allocations in a major way, it is now, said Oxfam today in response to the communiqué of the International Monetary and Financial Committee.

Current levels of aid from rich countries are woefully inadequate to help developing countries face the coronavirus crisis, said Oxfam today in response to new OECD aid figures for 2019.

Suspending debt owed to rich countries is only one piece of the puzzle. Rich private banks and investors should be pushed to cancel debts by enforcement and not left to voluntary action, said Oxfam today in response to the announcement that the G20 has agreed to suspend debt repayment of the poorest countries.

Without urgent action to relieve developing countries of all their external debt payments this year, and ensure they don't accrue into the future, the coronavirus could lead to millions of deaths and force half a billion more people around the world into poverty, said Oxfam today in response to the G7's joint statement on debt moratorium for poor countries.

In response to IMF Chief Economist Gita Gopinath’s statement that the coronavirus pandemic will trigger the worst economic fallout since the Great Depression, Nadia Daar, Oxfam International’s Head of Washington DC Office said: "The IMF’s assessment is chilling. The human suffering behind those numbers is almost unimaginable. Oxfam’s research shows that coronavirus could push half a billion more people into poverty".