6th Meeting of the Ecumenical Panel on a New International Financial and Economic Architecture (NIFEA) - Communique

Introduction

The 2012 Sao Paulo Statement on International Financial Transformation for an Economy of Life lamented the ideology of consumerism, the explosion of monetisation, and how the workings of the financial and economic order are biased in favour of the wealthy. It rejected debt-driven economic systems that promote violence, militarism and ecological degradation, and instead called for a New International Financial and Economic Architecture (NIFEA).

Meeting in Geneva from 25 to 27 March 2025, we, the Ecumenical Panel on a NIFEA jointly convened by the World Council of Churches, World Communion of Reformed Churches, Lutheran World Federation, World Methodist Council, and Council for World Mission, voice our deep alarm over the unprecedented consolidation of capital, technology, and political power today, aggravating already obscene levels of inequality, undermining democratic governance, fomenting wars and invasions for the control of resources, and further destabilising already fragile ecological systems. For many of our siblings facing poverty, genocide, and climate catastrophe, this is a matter of life and death.