To claim that an international economic and financial system based on 'market forces' will address the fundamental challenges of financing for development is a form of 'science fiction', according to an ecumenical team that attended the United Nations International Conference on Financing for Development, at Monterrey, Mexico in March.

In a press release issued during the conference, the team said, "The debt burden of developing countries remains a fundamental obstacle to poverty eradication and human development for all within just and sustainable communities."

The team added, "All the conventional debt relief initiatives proposed so far by bilaterial and multilateral creditors...have failed to adequately address the moral and financial crisis faced by people in low income countries."

The ecumenical group called for the cancellation of "all illegitimate debts" and the "elimination" of structural adjustment programmes. It said the root causes of injustice and inequality underlying the debt crisis must be addressed, and claimed "the credibility of the Northern countries' commitment to financing for development in the post-Monterrey context hinges in a fundamental way on their willingness to take up this challenge".

Prior to the Monterrey conference, the ecumenical team said a "moral vision" was needed to deal with the world's debt crisis and that all communities should be involved, "especially those marginalized by poverty and disempowerment".