Global economic crisis
The global economic crisis: the clue's in the name. Across the world, we're in this mess together. But while we worry about higher food prices, unaffordable mortgages, and tightening our purse strings, people in poor countries are in even greater turmoil.
What's the issue
Credit crunch, financial crash, recession, global downturn – whatever you choose to call it – the economic crisis that began in 2008 set in motion a troubling chain of events. As global markets collapsed, there was far less money to go round. People all over the world bought less stuff. Developing countries' exports fell. Millions of jobs disappeared.
And it’s not over. While we hope we’ve seen the worst of the crisis, many poor countries are still in disarray. As they struggle to work their way out of poverty, the impact of the downturn will hit them harder and last longer.
As ever, the real injustice is clear. The whole mess was caused by rich people in rich countries, but it’s poor people who are least able to cope.
What's the global economic crisis got to do with Oxfam?
Imagine if you already spent 80% of your income on food; a small increase in prices, or drop in income, would be the difference between one meal a day or two. In this way, people in poor countries – already fighting climate change, HIV/AIDS, and high food prices – are being stretched to breaking point.
What does it mean for poor people?
So far, some of the devastation of previous economic crises, like the financial collapse East Asian countries such as Indonesia suffered in the late 1990s, has been avoided. Poor people are toughing it out, and battling on. But the odds are stacked against the most vulnerable:
- Women are often the worst affected. The majority of workers in informal, casual employment are women. They are the first to lose their jobs when things go wrong, and the first to go without at home when household budgets shrink.
- Governments in sub-Saharan Africa have lost $70 billion. If their economies don’t recover quickly they may be forced to cut health and education spending – with devastating effects for people living in poverty for years to come.
What's Oxfam doing about it?
Oxfam has always supported poor people through times of crisis. In this case of global economic crisis, whether we’re supporting women’s labour rights, helping farmers get a decent price for their produce, or campaigning against the global trade rules that keep people in poverty, we’ll carry on doing what we do. And we’ll adapt our work to the new situations that people find themselves in as a result of the crisis.
We’ve also put our best experts to work, talking to the people Oxfam works with to find out what the economic crisis means for them. We’ll be publishing our findings, and using our experience of lobbying leaders, governments and global institutions to support poor countries through the crisis. And we want to make sure they can withstand the future crises that are likely to follow, too.
What can I do?
Make a regular donation to help Oxfam carry on its crisis-busting work.
Raise your voice to shape the global policies that affect poor people. Like pushing for the introduction of a Robin Hood Tax – a new 0.05% tax on banks that would go a long way towards breaking the back of global poverty.
Blog
The latest on the global economic crisis from Oxfam’s Head of Research Duncan Green:
