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Recorded Lectures: Margaret Atwood on Debt

5 Lectures on Debt by Canadian novelist, poet, and essayist Margaret Atwood. Can be viewed using Adobe Flash Player. In her wide-ranging, entertaining, and imaginative approach to the subject, Atwood proposes that debt is like air - something we take for granted until things go wrong. And then, while gasping for breath, we become very interested in it.

http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/massey.html

(Added: Mon Jun 08 2009   Hits: 19)

Arbitration Mechanism Demanded to End Scourge of Debt - Africa

International debt campaigners are calling for the establishment of a debt arbitration mechanism to respond to the difficulties that many countries of the South are increasingly facing as they attempt to service debt arrears to international lenders. (IPS, 3/3/2009)

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46384

(Added: Tue Apr 07 2009   Hits: 16)

A New Debt Crisis? Assessing the impact of the financial crisis on developing countries

This report from Jubilee Debt Campaign warns that a debt crisis approaching that of the 1980s could engulf many countries as a result of global financial turbulence. (Jubilee Debt Campaign, 2009)

http://www.jubileedebtcampaign.org.uk/Campaigners%20warn%20of%20new%20%91Global%20Debt%20Crisis%92+4737.twl

(Added: Tue Mar 24 2009   Hits: 127)

MDG Goal 8: Debt Factsheet [PDF 577KB]

A factsheet looking at the progress made towards Goal 8, Target 15 of the MDGs: To deal comprehensively with the debt problems of developing countries through national and international measures and make debt sustainable in the long term.(DFID, December 2008)

http://www.dfid.gov.uk/pubs/files/mdg-factsheets/debtfactsheet.pdf

(Added: Wed Feb 04 2009   Modified: Wed Dec 00 0   Hits: 35)

The Fallout from the Financial Crisis (2): External Debt Sustainability Should More Be Done for the Poor? [PDF 307KB]

This policy insight argues that initial analysis that the impact of the economic crisis on low income countries would be limited is wrong. Low income countries should not be overlooked in economic stabilisation plans.(Annalisa Prizzon, OECD, 2008)

http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/56/32/41804246.pdf

(Added: Mon Dec 08 2008   Modified: Wed Dec 00 0   Hits: 38)

Reality Check: Global vertical programmes: a tale of too many funds

Eurodad has produced a new "Reality Check" on vertical funds. This report "Global vertical programmes: a tale of too many funds evaluates the phenomenon of vertical funds through the lens of aid effectiveness. Vertical funds present benefits but also pose challenges and these differ across sectors. (Eurodad, 26 August 2008)

http://www.eurodad.org/whatsnew/reports.aspx?id=2736

(Added: Tue Sep 02 2008   Hits: 33)

Taming the Vultures: Are New Measures Enough to Protect Debt Relief Gains? [pdf]

The actions of so-called vulture funds - or speculative investors in the debt of distressed companies or sovereign states - have grabbed international media headlines over the past 18 months. The concern voiced by NGOs and governments alike is that the small gains in debt cancellation which countries such as Zambia have recently benefited from could be instantly wiped-out by aggressive vulture fund litigation. This Eurodad report explains and critically assesses some of the recent steps taken by governments to combat such practices. and asks how robust they are. (Gail Hurley, Eurodad, August 2008)

http://www.eurodad.org/uploadedFiles/Whats_New/Reports/The%20Rise%20of%20the%20Vulture%20layout.pdf

(Added: Tue Sep 02 2008   Hits: 46)

Journeys Just Begun: From Debt Relief to Poverty Reduction [pdf]

The two essays in this volume critically examine the adequacy of the HIPC initiatives and the more general issue of financing for the poorest countries. The first essay (by John Serieux) surveys the key results from a North-South Institute research project comprising five HIPC case-studies1 (Bolivia, Ethiopia, Mali, Nicaragua and Uganda). The second2 (by Roy Culpeper) examines how the global financial system has served the poorest countries badly, by inducing a chronic debt overhang and doing little for long-term development. Both essays pose the question: what, if anything, do debt relief and development financing offer in the struggle against, and eradication of, poverty? (Roy Culpeper and John Serieux, North South Insitute, 2000)

http://www.nsi-ins.ca/english/pdf/journeys_just_begun.pdf

(Added: Fri Aug 22 2008   Hits: 46)

Odious debt roundtable report

The World Bank and Eurodad have published the outcome report of the recent round-table on odious debt and responsible lending. The round-table represented the first open dialogue on the issue of illegitimate debt between CSOs and the World Bank. It also involved inputs from creditor and debtor governments, academics and other experts. The report covers some of the main discussions and debates on the definition of illegitimate and odious debt, proposals for how the issue could be tackled, how to address issues of creditor responsibility, country experiences (e.g. Haiti and Nigeria) and ensuring responsible lending and borrowing practices in the future. CSOs expressed the hope that this discussion represented the first of a series of future dialogues with the World Bank on this important issue (Eurodad & World Bank, July 2008).

http://www.eurodad.org/uploadedFiles/Whats_New/Reports/Odious_Debt_Roundtable_Report_FINAL_July_17_08.pdf

(Added: Fri Aug 08 2008   Hits: 56)

The rising risks of mortgage and consumer credit in middle-income economies

This report from the Centre for Development Policy and Research focuses on the mortgage issues in the US. The author argues that the recently increased channeling of consumption and mortgage credit-often by foreign banks-to low-income households in middle-income economies increases the risk of financial crisis, particularly because their incomes are even more vulnerable to adverse economic shocks than those in developed economies. (Development Viewpoint, August 2008)

http://www.soas.ac.uk/cdpr/publications/dv/45715.pdf

(Added: Fri Aug 08 2008   Modified: Wed Dec 00 0   Hits: 40)

Challenge to the G8 Governments: A statement to the G8 signed by more than 150 movements, networks and organisations

This documents was drafted and signed by a number of organizations. Its objective was to ask the G8 governments to more urgently move to address the twin tsunamis of the global food crisis and climate change - both of which have been worsened by the recent global economic downturn.

http://www.alternatives.ca/article3925.html

(Added: Thu Jul 10 2008   Modified: Wed Dec 00 0   Hits: 132)

The growing role of Latin American currencies

This article on the Inter-American Development Bank web-site discusses how Latin American currencies have gained favor amongst debt managers particularly as these economies have managed to remain resilient in the face of the recent US economic downturn.

http://www.iadb.org/NEWS/articledetail.cfm?language=English&ARTID=4659

(Added: Mon Jun 30 2008   Hits: 58)

Debt relief as if justice mattered:A framework for a comprehensive approach to debt relief that works

There is a clear need for a new approach to resolving sovereign debt problems which is comprehensive, systematic, fair and transparent and above all, just.

http://www.neweconomics.org/gen/z_sys_PublicationDetail.aspx?pid=252

(Added: Wed May 28 2008   Hits: 42)

Unfinished business: 10 years of drop the debt

Jubilee Debt Campaign's tenth anniversary report finds that at least another $400 billion of debt cancellation is needed if the world's poorest countries are to combat the challenge of global poverty.

http://www.jubileedebtcampaign.org.uk/unfinished

(Added: Wed May 21 2008   Hits: 68)

Death and taxes: the true toll of tax dodging

At a time of switchback stockmarkets and fears of global meltdown, the world economy in 2008 is an uncertain and nervous place. Will more banks collapse? Will the housing market crash? Can recession, or depression, be avoided?

http://www.eurodad.org/whatsnew/reports.aspx?id=2280

(Added: Fri May 16 2008   Hits: 61)

Jamaica's Debt: Exploring Causes and Strategies [pdf]

Jamaica's present debt burden arose between 1996 and 2003. A year by year decomposition of the growth of the debt over that period is used to identify the main factors responsible (CaPRI, 7 May 2008).

http://www.eurodad.org/uploadedFiles/Whats_New/Reports/CaPRI_Debt_Report.pdf

(Added: Mon May 12 2008   Hits: 53)

Prudent versus Imprudent Lending to Africa: From Debt Relief to Emerging Lenders [pdf]

This Working Paper evaluates the claim that China is "free riding" on Western debt relief efforts and find it to be unfounded. In order to encourage China and other emerging lenders and donors to co-operate, the paper suggests a broadening of the Debt Sustainability Framework concept of debt sustainability to include both the growth effects of new lending that contributes to better infrastructure, and the improvements in terms of trade and export performance resulting from China's demand (Helmut Reisen and Sokhna Ndoye, OECD, February 2008).

http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/62/12/40152567.pdf

(Added: Thu Apr 03 2008   Hits: 85)

What the World Bank lost in Berlin

In Berlin donor countries gathered for the last meeting of the 15th Replenishment round of the International Development Association (IDA) - the arm of the World Bank which gives highly concessional loans and grants to the world's poorest countries. But the World Bank and its European members lost a key opportunity to reform damaging World Bank policies (Eurodad, 19 December 2007).

http://www.eurodad.org/whatsnew/articles.aspx?id=1944

(Added: Tue Jan 08 2008   Hits: 135)

The basics about debt

The world's poorest countries pay over $100 million every day to the rich world. Read the basics about how this works - and why it should stop (jubileedebtcampaign, December 2007).

http://www.jubileedebtcampaign.org.uk/health

(Added: Fri Dec 21 2007   Hits: 131)

Debt and education

The ongoing debt crisis in poor countries has had and is still having a severe impact on access to education. This briefing explores the impact of debt and debt cancellation on education in poor countries. (Jubilee Debt Campaign UK, April 2007)

http://www.jubileedebtcampaign.org.uk/?lid=3198

(Added: Thu Dec 20 2007   Modified: Tue Oct 21 2008   Hits: 210)

Debt and health

Produced with Health Unlimited and Oxfam, the briefing looks at the impact of the debt crisis on access to healthcare in poor countries, as well as the positive results for health provision of the debt cancellation that some countries have received. (Jubilee Debt Campaign UK, December 2007)

http://www.jubileedebtcampaign.org.uk/download.php?id=589

(Added: Thu Dec 20 2007   Hits: 205)

Debt and public services

In developing countries, the provision of decent, accessible public services can mean the difference between life and death, yet these services are threatened by huge debt burdens and the damaging policies demanded by creditors. (Jubilee Debt Campaign UK, October 2007)

http://www.jubileedebtcampaign.org.uk/download.php?id=569

(Added: Thu Dec 20 2007   Hits: 187)

Debt and women

Poor countries' crippling debt burden has a particularly severe impact on women and girls. This briefing paper explores how it is women who take on most of the extra burdens created by a debt crisis, and how debt cancellation needs to work for their benefit. (Jubilee Debt Campaign UK, March 2007)

http://www.jubileedebtcampaign.org.uk/download.php?id=416

(Added: Thu Dec 20 2007   Hits: 197)

Debt swaps for development. Creative solution or smoke screen? - 2007-11-22

Debt swaps are not a new idea. Via a debt swap, the creditor country cancels a debt at its nominal value. In return, the debtor invests part of the cancelled amount in development projects according to conditions previously agreed by both parties. In the 1980s debt swaps were widely used, particularly in emerging economies. This is a look at the concept of debt swap and the implications it has (Eurodad, October 2007).

http://www.eurodad.org/uploadedFiles/Whats_New/Reports/Debt_swaps_ENG(2).pdf

(Added: Tue Nov 27 2007   Hits: 152)

The DATA Report 2007

The 2007 DATA Report is the second annual report monitoring the G8's progress in delivering its commitments to Africa by 2010. Tracking progress in Africa is equally, if not more, important but is best carried out by African civil society organisations. Significantly, this year's report measures progress in 2006 - the year when policy changes agreed in 2005 should have begun to take effect. Much more than the 2006 DATA Report, this report is a measure of how seriously the G8 are taking their promises (DATA, 2007).

http://www.thedatareport.org/pdf/DATAREPORT2007.pdf

(Added: Wed Oct 03 2007   Modified: Thu Oct 04 2007   Hits: 75)

Small change for a high price: Conditional debt relief in Mali

As the third poorest country in the world according to UNDP's Human Development Index, Mali faces significant challenges in providing basic services such as clean water, health care and education to its citizens. In the last three years, Mali's debt stock has been reduced significantly as a result of the country's participation in the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative and later on the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI). This note looks at the implications of debt in Mali, and the consequences that follow having a large debt burden and obtaining debt relief. It also looks at future prospects and challenges in financing poverty reduction, including in relation to new lenders such as China (Eurodad, Martine Dahle Huse, June 2007).

http://www.eurodad.org/uploadedFiles/Whats_New/Reports/Microsoft_Word__Small_change_for_a_high_price,_Conditional_debt_relief_in_Mali.pdf

(Added: Tue Aug 21 2007   Hits: 154)

Asian Financial Crisis - 10 years on

In July 1997, massive capital flight from Thailand precipitated what is now known as the Asian financial crisis. Focus on the Global South was in the thick of the crisis, looking at the impacts first hand from our base in Thailand and analysing the political and economic fallout from every level and angle. Ten years on, unfinished condominiums and abandoned expressways sprouting rusty foliage from pillars of reinforced concrete scar Bangkok's skyline, constant reminders of the crash. But these days, alongside the ruins of 1997, taller, bigger and ritzier apartment buildings are springing thanks to a new property boom which, like the earlier one, will most probably end in a crash. On the face of it, Thailand does not appear to have learned much in the past ten years. Or has it? In this issue of Focus on Trade, Chanida Chanyapate and Alec Bamford look at attempts to inject Buddhist principles into economic thinking, replacing the "smirk of capitalism" with the "serene smile of sufficiency economy". Also in this issue, Walden Bello looks at how the key players in the crisis -- the financial markets, the national governments and the international financial institutions -- have fared in the past ten years while CP Chandrasekhar analyses new trends in the global financial system. His conclusions are grim and worrying. (Focus on the Global South, 27 July 2007).

http://www.focusweb.org/asian-financial-crisis-10-years-on-2.html?Itemid=1

(Added: Mon Jul 30 2007   Hits: 233)

The world is still waiting: broken G8 promises are costing millions of lives

As the 2007 German G8 summit approaches, the demands of the millions of anti-poverty campaigners worldwide are clear. G8 leaders must increase and improve aid to provide health, education, water and sanitation for all. They must cancel more debt and deliver trade justice. They must take urgent action to bring peace to the world's most troubled countries and to halt the devastating impact of climate change. Where action has been taken by G8 countries, lives are being saved. Yet despite some areas of real progress, in the past two years overall progress has fallen far short of promises. The cost of this inaction is millions of lives lost due to poverty. G8 countries must meet their promises to the world. (Oxfam, May 2007)

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/what_we_do/issues/debt_aid/downloads/bp103_g8.pdf

(Added: Fri May 25 2007   Hits: 92)

The role of the IMF in debt restructurings : lending into arrears, moral hazard and sustainability concerns

In recent years the IMF has made efforts to build an improved "crisis prevention and resolution framework" that minimizes the size and frequency of bailouts, largely out of a concern with the possible moral hazard consequences of its interventions. This framework, however, which includes an emphasis on greater private sector involvement, the encouragement of the use of collective action clauses and a more effective enforcement of access limits to IMF lending has not generated an observable change in practice. In fact, the IMF has frequently exerted pressure on the debtor and its views have often been biased in favour of the creditors' interests. In particular, its lending into arrears policy (LIA) has been used as a means to induce debtor governments to "accommodate" to these interests. But by providing financing to the debtor through its LIA policy the Fund could potentially play a positive role in reducing the gap between the creditors' "reservation price" and the country's repayment capacity while, at the same time, making sure that the debt burden becomes sustainable. (Lucio Simpson, UNCTAD, 2006)

http://www.g24.org/un-sim06.pdf

(Added: Wed Feb 14 2007   Hits: 145)

Skeletons in the Cupboard: Illegitimate Debt Claims of the G7

This report argues that if the G7 is serious about corruption, good governance and transparency, it should apply these principles to the past. The report highlights cases of illegitimate debts being claimed by Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, UK and USA. These loans were the result of irresponsible lending. Money was lent to regimes G7 governments knew to be corrupt or repressive to buy political allegiance, or they were loans designed to help rich country companies do business abroad in unviable projects. The report argues that some debts should not be paid. This is because creditors bear a large part of the responsibility for having extended loans irresponsibly and negligently. (Eurodad et al, February 2007)

http://www.eurodad.org/debt/report.aspx?id=114&item=0442

(Added: Fri Feb 09 2007   Modified: Tue Sep 23 2008   Hits: 142)

Debt sustainability or defensive deterrence?

This paper looks at the mechanics and the internal inconsistencies of the World Bank's policy response to the nascent issue of 'free riding', trying to determine why impoverished developing countries at risk of debt distress may be 'forced' to borrow at non-concessional terms in order to finance MDG investments. Moreover, it looks at who these new lenders are, and tries to establish the consequences of their appearance. China seems to be by far the most important 'new kid on the block' in the lending arena, but there are also other examples of lenders which are offering low conditionality, high cost finance. These include regional institutions such as the Corporación Andina de Fomento (CAF), some other export credit agencies, and perhaps private funds. It is extremely interesting to try to assess the impact of the related conditionalities - or rather the lack of these - on recipients' socio-economic balance. (Francesco Oddone, Eurodad, January 2007)

http://www.eurodad.org/debt/report.aspx?id=118&item=0446

(Added: Thu Jan 11 2007   Modified: Tue Sep 23 2008   Hits: 265)

IDB Debt Cancellation for Haiti

In 2005, the Haitian government spent more than $70 million on debt payments, a significant portion of its budget. Yet less than half of the population has access to basic rights such as healthcare, education, and potable water. Thus the Inter-American Development Bank announcement of debt cancellation is welcome. However, Haiti will face a delay of at least two years before obtaining 100% cancellation. And the IMF and World Bank's debt relief program requires countries to first implement a series of harmful economic reforms such as privatization of basic services before obtaining debt cancellation. (Debayani Kar and Tom Ricker, FPIF, 7 December 2006)

http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/3768

(Added: Tue Jan 09 2007   Hits: 72)

HIPC Debt Relief: Myths and Reality

This book presents a thorough analysis of the successes and failures of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative and provides a wide range of suggestions of what needs to be done. Issues addressed include the bailing-out of IMF loans by donor countries, the (mis)use of aid funds for debt relief and repayment of export credits, the need for including domestic debt in assessments of debt sustainability, and the question of whether debt relief should be de-linked from IMF conditionality. With a view to the future of low-income countries, the book relates the HIPC Initiative to the Millennium Development Goals and warns that debt relief can only provide a fraction of the funds required for reducing poverty and avoiding a new build-up of unsustainable debt. The book spells out how genuine debt relief could contribute to poverty reduction and economic growth in poor developing countries. Download the whole book at once or by chapter. (Jan Joost Teunissen and Age Akkerman (eds.), FONDAD, February 2004)

http://www.fondad.org/publications/hipc/contents.htm

(Added: Wed Dec 13 2006   Hits: 83)

Let's launch an enquiry into the debt! A manual on how to organise audits on third world debts

A debt audit allows us to to clarify the past, to untangle the web of debt, thread by thread. It allows us to reconstruct the sequence of events which have led to the present deadlock. And it enables us to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past. This guide, written by Latin American activists, is intended to serve as a support tool for such efforts and as a tool of popular education intended for "social movements, citizen reds, Members of Parliament, jurists, economists and other rebels."

http://www.cadtm.org/IMG/pdf/CETIM_Angl.pdf

(Added: Tue Dec 05 2006   Hits: 83)

External Debt in Post-Conflict Countries

In the development literature, there exists no systematic study of external borrowing in post-conflict countries. This paper addresss this gap by analyzing statistical and case study evidence from three African countries. The authors find that many war-affected countries face rising debt arrears and deteriorating relations with creditors. Rebuilding trust between lenders and borrowers is hence a crucial but often slow process. Furthermore, donors to war-affected African countries have been slow to grant exceptional debt relief based odious debt or on financial requirements. Debt relief for post-conflict reconstruction should embrace a more forward-looking and more generous conditionality. (Patricia Alvarez-Plata and Tilman Brück, DIW Berlin, July 2006)

http://www.diw.de/deutsch/produkte/publikationen/diskussionspapiere/docs/papers/dp613.pdf

(Added: Mon Oct 16 2006   Hits: 158)

Does Debt Relief Increase Fiscal Space in Zambia?

This Country Study examines fiscal policy in Zambia, and how expenditure and taxation could be used to accelerate growth and reduce poverty. Since 1990, fiscal policy has been closely linked to debt servicing and constrained by external loan conditionalities. This inversion of social priorities has had a debilitating effect on growth, poverty reduction and combating the HIV/AIDS pandemic. It finds that due to associated policy conditionalities and other factors, HIPC debt relief will result in less fiscal space, rather than more. The Zambian government has little leeway to choose its own fiscal policies, despite donor rhetoric about 'national ownership' of poverty-reduction policies. (UNDP, September 2006)

http://www.undp-povertycentre.org/pub/IPCCountryStudy5.pdf

(Added: Tue Oct 03 2006   Modified: Wed Dec 00 0   Hits: 241)

Out of time: The case for replacing the World Bank and IMF

There seems no end in sight to the cycle of debt, and the free market policies imposed on poor countries continue, albeit with new names. Increasingly obvious is the need not just for debt write-offs and changes to Bank and Fund conditionality but for a more fundamental change to the role, remit and functioning of the international financial institutions (IFIs). In this 64-page report, a brief history of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund is followed by a detailed critique explaining the overwhelming case for change, followed finally by WDM's suggested agenda for scrapping the World Bank and IMF and creating very different international financial institutions (IFIs). (World Development Movement, September 2006)

http://www.wdm.org.uk/resources/briefings/debt/outoftimereport.pdf

(Added: Thu Sep 21 2006   Hits: 324)

Cut the Strings! Why the UK government must take action now on harmful conditions attached to debt cancellation

Debt cancellation comes with harmful strings attached. The world's poorest countries are told they must open up their markets, cut vital public spending, and privatise basic services if they are to get any debt relief. If governments don't comply, cancellation is delayed or withheld. If they do - often against the wishes of their people and their parliaments - it is all too often disastrous. The strings attached to debt relief have benefited countries and companies in the North, but frequently they strangle the poorest. (Jubilee Debt Campaign, CAFOD, Action Aid, Christian Aid and World Development Movement, September 2006)

http://www.jubileedebtcampaign.org.uk/Cut20the20Strings21+2289.twl

(Added: Wed Sep 20 2006   Modified: Fri Sep 19 2008   Hits: 182)

Odious debt: debt relief as if morality matters

Many creditors have knowingly lent vast sums to oppressive and corrupt regimes. The proceeds of these loans were often stolen or wasted but successor governments are still expected to service them, while the creditors deny any responsibility. These are known as odious debts, but the term 'odious lending' is a more accurate description. These loans continue to affect the welfare of the citizens of the debtor countries. Setting up an independent body to identify odious regimes and denying the right for creditors to pursue successor governments for payment would not only help to solve the problem of past odious loans but also create a powerful force in favour of democracy and justice for the future. ng after "odious debts" are technically off the books, subsequent generations are still effectively paying for them. NEF's new calculations reveal that amongst the worst cases: Indonesia has already overpaid in the region of US$151 billion relating to odious debts. This means that Indonesia has made a cumulative net transfer to the North of US$138 billion to date - or 90 per cent of Indonesia's GDP. Argentina has already "overpaid" in the region of US$77 billion relating to odious debts - 75 per cent of the country's recorded debt. Nicaragua has odious debt of over five times the country's total GDP. (New Economics Foundation, September 2006)

http://www.neweconomics.org/gen/uploads/v3gdvw45bflbyn55gy1fwr4514092006174700.pdf

(Added: Wed Sep 20 2006   Modified: Thu Dec 14 2006   Hits: 194)

Who gets debt relief ?

Debt relief deals worth a total of $100bn have failed to tackle the problems of the poor countries they are meant to help as for many countries, indebtedness is a symptom of deeper issues. Nicolas Chauvin of Princeton University, and Aart Kraay of the World Bank, examined the debt relief programmes offered to 62 poor countries since the late 1980s. They found that, in general, writing off debt has little impact on public spending or gross domestic product per capita, and many recipients slide back into the red again and again. Conditional on per capita incomes and policy, more indebted countries are not much more likely to receive debt relief. But countries that have large debts especially to multilateral creditors are more likely to receive debt relief. Most of the persistence in debt relief is driven by slowly changing country characteristics, indicating that it may be difficult for countries to"exit"from cycles of repeated debt relief. (World Bank, August 2006)

http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/IW3P/IB/2006/08/29/000016406_20060829125219/Rendered/PDF/wps4000.pdf

(Added: Mon Sep 11 2006   Hits: 125)

High Oil Prices: Undermining Debt Cancellation and Fueling a New Crisis?

The rising cost of oil imports is draining far more money out of impoverished countries than debt cancellation is contributing each year. As a result, there is a very real risk that countries will be dragged further into debt. A new energy revolution is needed, one that focuses on promoting a just transition away from oil dependence and towards energy efficiency and sustainable alternatives. Global warming threatens us all, but it is impoverished countries that are most vulnerable to its impacts. (Jubilee, July 2006)

http://www.fntg.org/fntg/docs/HighOilPricesandDebtPolicyBrief.pdf

(Added: Thu Jul 13 2006   Modified: Wed Dec 00 0   Hits: 131)

Debt relief as if people mattered: a rights-based approach to debt sustainability

Debt sustainability has, until now, been narrowly assessed according to a country's ability to pay in terms of its export earnings - regardless of other demands on public funds. This prevents governments in many developing countries meeting the basic needs of their citizens. A new approach to debt sustainability that takes this into account is urgently needed. Such an approach would need to look at all indebted countries regardless of income and calculate the level of debt they could carry without compromising on human rights. It would highlight the need for a major cancellation of unpayable debt and for a significant increase in the proportion of aid which is in grant form. Without such an approach attempts to reduce poverty and promote sustainable development. This research paper is intended as a first step towards the development of an alternative blueprint for the international financial system, backed widely by global civil society. (Stephen Mandel, New Economics Foundation, 2006)

http://www.neweconomics.org/gen/uploads/2asmn4454nsaftz0oz4qr54513062006174711.pdf

(Added: Wed Jul 05 2006   Hits: 134)

G8 Debt Deal One Year On: What Happened and What Next?

One year on, this 13 page report looks at the debt cancellation deal now renamed the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) agreed upon at the Gleneagles G8 Summit in July 2005. The International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the African Development Bank have begun to deliver debt cancellation to 19 impoverished nations, 15 of which are in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, campaigners never felt this deal went far enough, both in terms of the amount of debt cancelled and the number of countries included in the deal. And disputes between rich country governments and the World Bank throughout 2005 mean that the debt relief is less than what was initially jubilantly announced. There continues to be a lack of acknowledgement by governments in the North, as well as the international financial institutions, of the key role they have played in the accumulation of debt burdens in the South. The huge amount of remaining illegitimate debt must be cancelled. (Eurodad, June 2006)

http://www.eurodad.org/debt/report.aspx?id=112&item=0318

(Added: Wed Jun 28 2006   Modified: Tue Sep 23 2008   Hits: 226)

Implementing MDRI debt relief

This document describes the modalities of how the the African Development Fund (ADF), the World Bank's International Development Association (IDA) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), are to deliver Multinational Debt Relief Initiative. (HIPC Debt Strategy and Analysis Capacity Building Programme, Carribean Development Bank, 18 May 2006)

http://www.hipc-cbp.org/files/en/open/News/MDRI_Aug_2006_En.pdf

(Added: Wed Jun 28 2006   Modified: Thu Sep 21 2006   Hits: 169)

Sharing the Load

This article takes a look at the African development challenges Group of Eight leaders sought to address last summer in Scotland through an ambitious combination of high-profile events, aid increases and debt reduction, as the group of rich countries prepares to meet next month in Russia. While efforts have run into numerous obstacles, some initiatives, such as the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund, could help streamline relief operations and help implement the broader goals outlined last year. (Simon Robinson, TIME Europe, 27 June 2006)

http://www.time.com/time/europe/magazine/article/0,13005,901060703-1207765,00.html

(Added: Wed Jun 28 2006   Hits: 89)

The view from the summit - Gleneagles G8 one year on

One year has passed since the G8 summit in Gleneagles in July 2005, where 36 million people in over 70 countries united under the Global Call to Action against Poverty. As the Russian G8 approaches, this paper explores progress (or the lack thereof) since the G8 in Gleneagles in the areas of debt, aid, conflict, trade, and climate change. (Oxfam, June 2006)

http://oxfam.intelli-direct.com/e/d.dll?m=234&url=http://www.oxfam.org.uk/what_we_do/issues/debt_aid/downloads/g8_gleneagles_oneyear.pdf

(Added: Wed Jun 28 2006   Modified: Wed Dec 00 0   Hits: 241)

Mission unaccomplished: One year on from Gleneagles, is the G8 hitting its targets on debt, trade and aid?

The Make Poverty History campaign generated massive public pressure for action - on debt cancellation, trade justice and more and better aid - and pushed poverty to the top of the agenda when the world's most powerful countries met at the G8 summit at Gleneagles in Scotland in July 2005. G8 leaders responded with a series of pledges - on debt, trade and aid, and on HIV and AIDS, which promised to help address the needs of more than one billion people living in extreme poverty. One year on, this 20 page report analyses to what extent the G8 has kept its promises. It finds that, while the result varies between countries, the G8 has not done what it said it would do on trade, and is letting the targets on aid and HIV and AIDS slip. The report urges swift action to get the Gleneagles commitments back on track. (Patrick Watt and Tom Sharman, Action Aid, June 2006)

http://www.actionaid.org.uk/doc_lib/g8_1-report.pdf

(Added: Tue Jun 27 2006   Modified: Tue Aug 15 2006   Hits: 331)

Sovereign Debt in Central / Eastern European and Commonwealth of Independent States Countries [pdf]

This Working Paper analyses the macro-economic situation of Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia and Serbia Montenegro which are confronted with the build-up of substantial foreign debt stocks in the recent years, and considers how the outstanding debt should be treated by multi- and bilateral creditors in future. (Jurgen Kaiser, Hartmut Kowsky, Benedikt Schueller, April 2006)

http://www.bankwatch.org/documents/debt_report_CEE_04_06.pdf#search=%22Sovereign%20Debt%20in%20Central%20%2F%20Eastern%20European%20and%20Commonwealth%20of%20Independent%20States%20Countries%20Hartmut%20Kowsky%22

(Added: Wed Jun 21 2006   Modified: Fri Sep 15 2006   Hits: 87)

A Case for Debt Relief (pdf)

This paper takes a human development approach to debt relief by concerning itself with the question of whether debt relief has aided development and poverty reduction when it has been applied and whether in can do so effectively in a greater number of places. The key questions are whether debt relief has been effective and, if it has, how it could now be expanded to include more countries. The report is divided into three sections. Part I: The effectiveness of debt relief contains individual case studies (Tanzania and Zambia) outlining improvements and advancements in poverty reduction that have been made possible by debt relief. Part II: The need for additional debt relief uses three case studies (Indonesia, the Philippines and Bangladesh) to examine where debt relief is still needed in order to fight poverty and assist development in those case study countries. Debt relief, it is found, is more useful than aid. (Jubilee Australia, May 2006)

http://www.dev-zone.org/downloads/Oct%2B2006%2BNewsletter.pdf

(Added: Fri May 19 2006   Modified: Fri Sep 26 2008   Hits: 224)

Zambia after the HIPC 'surgery' and the completion point

In 2005 Zambia reached its Completion Point of a series of debt relief measures implemented by the World Bank and the IMF to the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPCs). This Policy Brief builds on a 2004 JCTR brief which detailed Zambia's experience with the HIPC Initiative. This report analyses its current status and progress after the Completion Point. (Jack Jones, Debt and Trade Project, Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection, April 2006)

http://www.eurodad.org/debt/article.aspx?id=112&item=352

(Added: Mon May 15 2006   Modified: Tue Sep 23 2008   Hits: 106)

World Bank's Poverty Reduction Support Credit: Continuity or Change?

This study examines the Poverty Reduction Support Credit, the World Bank's programmatic lending introduced in 2001. The study aims to test the World Bank's claim that the PRSC allows more flexibility in terms of conditionality, and to contribute to the broader debate on the level and content of conditionality, in particular economic policy conditions. The author looks at 13 PRSC programmes across Africa, Asia and Latin America, with particular attention paid to privatisation schemes. The findings show that while the number of binding conditions imposed by the World Bank has decreased, this has been accompanied by a sharp upturn in the number of benchmark or 'soft' conditions, and there has been a significant increase in public finance management and good governance conditions. The overall thrust of the conditions are similar to previous World Bank approach, with a lack of flexibility in approach in terms of policy choices, despite their often direct conflict with public opinion and parliamentary motions. Finally the report highlights the lack of transparency in how PRSCs are developed and adopted with both Parliaments and civil society excluded from examining a programme which will impact on their lives and may also mount as debt. The report ends with recommendations to the World Bank on policy conditions, criticality, consultation, transparency, cross conditionality, donor alignment and further assessments. (Angela Wood, Debt and Development Coalition Ireland, July 2005)

http://www.debtireland.org/resources/ddci-re-PRSCReportFINAL.htm

(Added: Fri Apr 28 2006   Modified: Tue Jun 27 2006   Hits: 129)

How Americans would benefit from cancellation of impoverished country debts [pdf]

Unmanageable foreign debts are dragging down many of the most impoverished countries in the world. This report looks at 77 countries that owe a combined total of $1.25 trillion to rich governments and institutions like the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Sixty-seven of them need debt cancellation to achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals, while the other ten are saddled with "odious" debts accumulated under dictatorships. The impacts of these debts are most direct and life-threatening in the Global South, but they also boomerang back to developed nations. As this study shows, debt affects Americans by undermining international health, disenabling countries to act on global warming, contributing to global insecurity and putting pressure on immigration. The study suggests ways in which we can act to get rid of debt and leave everybody better off. (Sarah Anderson, Institute for Policy Studies, March 2006)

http://www.globalpolicy.org/socecon/develop/debt/2006/03debtboom.pdf

(Added: Thu Apr 20 2006   Modified: Fri Sep 26 2008   Hits: 115)

World Bank Approves US$37 Billion For Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative

The World Bank's Board of Executive Directors today approved financing and implementation details for the World Bank's contribution toward the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI), which will cancel the IDA debt of some of the world's poorest countries starting on July 1, 2006, at the start of the Bank's new fiscal year. The World Bank's Board of Executive Directors today approved financing and implementation details for the World Bank's contribution toward the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI), which will cancel the IDA debt of some of the world's poorest countries starting on July 1, 2006, at the start of the Bank's new fiscal year. IDA is expected to provide more than US$37 billion in debt relief over 40 years. Initially, 17 HIPC countries will be eligible for 100 percent debt cancellation.

http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:20867307~pagePK:34370~piPK:34424~theSitePK:4607,00.html

(Added: Fri Mar 31 2006   Modified: Fri Sep 26 2008   Hits: 121)

Justice for Latin America on IDB Debts: The Case for Cancelling Inter-American Development Bank Debt NOW!

This Eurodad paper states that the G8 intiative of debt relief is being implemented inequitably. While some countries are are having up to 90% of debt cancelled, four Latin American countries are only receiving, on average 30% debt cancellation.
The report argues that further relief is needed for Bolivia, Guyana, Hondurus and Nicaragua who are scheduled to reimburse the IDB of approximately US$2.75bn in the next ten years.
The paper calls for immediate cancellation of these debts.

http://www.eurodad.org/whatsnew/reports.aspx?id=584

(Added: Fri Feb 03 2006   Modified: Tue Sep 23 2008   Hits: 130)

Assessing the G8 Debt Proposal & Its Implications

By Soren Ambrose Solidarity Africa Network in Action (Nairobi, Kenya) & 50 Years Is Enough: U.S. Network for Global Economic Justice (Washington, DC, USA) August/September 2005. This report is in two parts. The first is a close reading of the G8 debt plan and some of the interpretations and proposals about the plan that have emerged since July. The second is an analysis of its implications.

http://www.focusweb.org/content/view/664/27/

(Added: Fri Nov 11 2005   Modified: Thu Sep 07 2006   Hits: 222)

Oxfam Briefing Paper 78: Beyond HIPC

The G8 has taken a welcome first step by agreeing multilateral debt cancellation for some countries covered by the HIPC initiative; but rich countries need to go much further if all poor countries are to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The ability of poor countries to fight poverty and reach the MDGs should be the basis of calculations to determine the necessary level of debt cancellation. This means that the G8 debt initiative should be extended to include all other poor countries that need to have their debts cancelled to meet the MDGs. Similarly, debts owed to other creditors not covered by the G8 initiative such as the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) should be cancelled wherever this is necessary to fight poverty.

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/what_we_do/issues/debt_aid/bp78_hipc.htm?ito=1721&itc=0

(Added: Tue Oct 25 2005   Hits: 91)

What about us? Debt and the countries the G8 left behind [PDF]

A Christian Aid report, September 2005. Campaigners have long realised that debt is one of the key obstacles preventing lowand middle-income countries from developing and achieving their full potential. Unfortunately, despite the hype and the hope, the world's richest nations again failed to deliver. Only 18 out of 153 developing countries will receive anything from the G8 deal on debt, with, at best, a further ten joining them by the end of 2007. This Christian Aid report shows that the deal leaves at least 40 countries still needing immediate and total cancellation of external debts. Many more require massive reductions in debt repayments if they are to eliminate extreme poverty.

http://www.christian-aid.org.uk/indepth/509debt/Debt%20report_Published-Sept2005.pdf

(Added: Fri Oct 14 2005   Hits: 159)

Don't falter on the Debt Deal

Jubilee Aotearoa Debt Action Network, Media Release, 26 September 2005. "So often in the past the rights of poor people have been lost in lengthy pronouncements and vacuous promises but this time we are hoping for a breakthrough that delivers," says Gillian Southey, a spokesperson for Jubilee Aotearoa, in response to the latest announcement on debt relief for poor countries. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank annual meetings over the weekend decided to implement the debt cancellation agreed at July's G8 meeting in Scotland. Jubilee is hoping that final agreement from the executive boards of these two institutions will be forthcoming in order to deliver the promised deal into the hands of the people who need it most.

http://www.dev-zone.org/downloads/Press%20Release%20-%20IMF%20WB%20meetings%20-%2026%20Sep%2005.doc

(Added: Thu Sep 29 2005   Hits: 101)

Loose ends: The G8 debt deal and the Annual Meetings [pdf] 171 KB

Jubilee Debt Campaign and Jubilee USA have produced this briefing paper to urge creditor countries, the World Bank and the IMF to resolve issues that threaten to wreck the debt cancellation deal proposed by the G8 in July. The issues include questions of the conditions countries would have to fill to qualify; whether the additional financing required will be provided, and whether any other countries should qualify for any part of the deal. Whether these are resolved will determine whether the groundbreaking deal is agreed or delayed yet again.

http://www.jubileedebtcampaign.org.uk/?lid=1027

(Added: Mon Sep 26 2005   Hits: 94)

Uganda Debt Network

The Uganda Debt Network to promote and advocate for pro-poor policies and full participation of poor people in influencing poverty focused policies, monitoring the utilization of public resources and ensuring that borrowed resources are prudently managed in an open, accountable and transparent manner so as to benefit the Ugandan people.

http://www.udn.or.ug/

(Added: Wed Sep 21 2005   Hits: 100)

A fresh start for Iraq: The case for debt relief [PDF] 326 KB

Oxfam briefing paper (May 2003). The reconstruction of Iraq is one of the most urgent challenges facing the international community. Ordinary Iraqis have suffered gross violations of human rights, along with one of the most dramatic deteriorations in living standards ever recorded. Now unsustainable debt threatens to undermine reconstruction efforts. This briefing paper argues that the country's debt is unpayable, but also that that there are wider moral and legal grounds for reducing Iraq's debt burden.

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/what_we_do/issues/debt_aid/downloads/bp48_iraqdebt.pdf

(Added: Mon Aug 01 2005   Modified: Wed Dec 00 0   Hits: 213)

Aid, Debt Relief and New Sources of Finance for Meeting the Millennium Development Goals (PDF 129KB)

by Tony Addison, George Mavrotas and Mark McGillivray. April 2005. World Institute for Development Economics Research (WIDER) Research Paper 2005/09. This report questions the validity of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) regarding the impact of official development aid. By examining the literature on aid and growth, it discovers nearly all aid studies since the late 1990s conclude that aid increases economic growth. To a certain extent it is true that we would expect that poverty would be greater in the absence of aid. The paper reviews volumes of and trends in official development assistance since 1960, highlighting flows to sub-Saharan Africa. As the amount of aid decreased in the 1990s, it asserts that poverty is higher and the MDGs are hard to achieve because of this downturn. It also asserts that while aid will be important, other sources of external finance are required to achieve the MDGs.

http://www.wider.unu.edu/publications/working-papers/research-papers/2005/en_GB/rp2005-09/

(Added: Wed Jun 29 2005   Modified: Fri Sep 26 2008   Hits: 268)

"A truckload of nonsense"

The G8 plan to save Africa comes with conditions that make it little more than an extortion racket. George Monbiot, Tuesday June 14, 2005, The Guardian. An aura of sanctity is descending upon the world's most powerful men. On Saturday the finance ministers from seven of the G8 nations (Russia was not invited) promised to cancel the debts the poorest countries owe to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The hand that holds the sword has been stayed by angels: angels with guitars rather than harps.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,5673,1505927,00.html

(Added: Wed Jun 15 2005   Hits: 345)

In the Balance: Why Debts Must be Cancelled Now to Meet the Millennium Development Goals [PDF]

Jubilee Debt Campaign, ActionAid UK and Christian Aid. The poorest people in the world are trapped in a cycle of poverty and powerlessness. This is perpetuated, at least in part, by the unremitting demands of the rich world for money from the poor world in debt payments. These demands continue regardless of the source of the debts or the impact on the poor of their being paid. It is now accepted that on current trends the Millennium Development Goals, which 189 governments agreed to achieve by 2015, will not be met for more than 100 years. These are not notional goals for the total eradication of the poverty gripping much of the world, but were intended as achievable, realistic targets simply for the partial alleviation by 2015 of extreme poverty.

http://www.makepovertyhistory.org/docs/inthebalance.pdf

(Added: Tue May 31 2005   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 303)

Ten Ounces of IMF Gold Equivalent to One Human Life

ActionAid, April 16, 2005 -The International development organization, ActionAid International, today condemned the International Monetary Fund's failure to act on a plan of selling IMF gold reserves to relieve the debts of the world's poorest nations, saying this failure may lead to over a million poverty-related deaths.

http://www.actionaidusa.org/pr_newsalerts.php#wb_gold

(Added: Wed May 11 2005   Modified: Tue Jun 14 2005   Hits: 99)

Global Call to Action Against Poverty Embassy Action - 1st April 2005

On Friday 1 April 2005, organisations and national platforms involved in the Global Call to Action against Poverty are asked to target representatives of rich creditor countries with a demand for debt cancellation, and to wear the white band.

http://www.dev-zone.org/downloads/GCAPEmbassy010405.pdf

(Added: Tue Mar 29 2005   Modified: Tue Jun 14 2005   Hits: 114)

The U.S. Proposal: The Financial Mechanics of Delivering 100 Percent Debt Relief [PDF 134KB]

(Bank Information Center) US Treasury representatives presented their proposal for financing IDA debt relief for HIPC countries this morning at the "U.S. Debt and Development Forum." Representatives of US Treasury at the meeting included Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs, John Taylor, and Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Development Finance and Debt, Bobby Pittman, Jr.

http://www.bicusa.org/bicusa/issues/US%20Proposal%20(Treasury-March%202005).pdf

(Added: Thu Mar 24 2005   Modified: Tue Jun 14 2005   Hits: 108)

Do the Deal. The G7 must act now to cancel poor country debts. (PDF 191.33 KB)

ActionAid, CAFOD & Oxfam, February 2005. The poorest countries in the world pay $100 million dollars a day to their rich country creditors, more than they spend on health. Along with increasing aid and reforming trade, debt cancellation is an essential step towards ending poverty. As the G7 Finance Ministers convene in London for their first meeting of 2005 they must act to cancel debt as the first step towards making poverty history.

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/what_we_do/issues/debt_aid/downloads/g7_deal.pdf

(Added: Mon Mar 07 2005   Modified: Tue Jun 14 2005   Hits: 114)

A Game As Old As Empire

AlterNet, February 16, 2005. The author of the gripping new book, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, reveals how the U.S. became the world's largest superpower: by forcing developing countries into debt.

http://www.alternet.org/story/21245

(Added: Fri Feb 18 2005   Modified: Wed Jun 15 2005   Hits: 616)

Paying for 100% Multilateral Debt Cancellation: Current proposals explained

By Sony Kapoor, January 2005. "It is highly likely that significant further progress on low-income country debt can be made during 2005. Many officials and politicians have now recognised that the Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) Initiative has not solved the debt crisis and that more therefore needs to be done ... This briefing outlines ways to get the most desirable outcome from the current momentum for a debt relief deal. There exists a unique window of opportunity for civil society, parliamentarians and the media to influence the outcome of this year's official discussions so as to achieve a genuine exit from the debt trap in which so many countries have been caught."

http://www.eurodad.org/whatsnew/reports.aspx?id=806

(Added: Fri Feb 11 2005   Modified: Tue Sep 23 2008   Hits: 273)

FONDAD Forum on Debt and Development

FONDAD is an independent policy research centre and a forum for international discussion established in the Netherlands. Supported by a worldwide network of experts, we provide policy-oriented research on North-South issues in a globalising world, in particular international financial issues for developing countries. We offer factual background information and practical strategies for policymakers and other interested groups in industrial, developing and transition countries, through research, seminars and publications.

http://www.fondad.org/

(Added: Fri Feb 04 2005   Modified: Tue Jun 14 2005   Hits: 131)

Reaping the fruits of debt relief

(Workopolis.com) By Stephanie Nolen, Globe and Mail, Jan 29, 2005. Tanzania is one of the poorest countries in the world, where the annual per capita income is just $290 (U.S.). When it applied for relief to its international creditors, including Canada, it pledged that if debt payments were reduced, it would use the money saved to reduce poverty, with education the first priority. In perhaps the most vivid illustration of what debt relief can do, Tanzania abolished school fees in 2002. And 1.6 million children went to school for the first time.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050129/DEBT29/TPInternational/

(Added: Tue Feb 01 2005   Modified: Tue Jun 14 2005   Hits: 125)

The Committee for the Abolition of the Third World Debt (CADTM)

The Committee for the Abolition of the Third World Debt (CADTM) is an international network of activists who strive to develop and implement radical alternatives that would contribute to the maintenance, and indeed retrieval, of fundamental human rights all over the world. CADTM's specific focus is the Third World Debt and its aim is to achieve the cancellation of the external public debt in third world countries and subsequently to break the spiral of deeper and deeper indebtedness by setting up models of socially fair and environmentally sustainable development.

http://www.cadtm.org

(Added: Fri Jan 28 2005   Modified: Tue Jun 14 2005   Hits: 103)

MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY

MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY brings together a wide cross section of nearly 100 charities, campaigns, trade unions, faith groups and celebrities who are united by a common belief that 2005 offers a unprecedented opportunity for global change.

http://www.makepovertyhistory.org

(Added: Mon Jan 17 2005   Modified: Tue Aug 15 2006   Hits: 486)

Debt and Human Rights

By Brenda Moyfa. Debt becomes a human rights issue because it is one of the major obstacles to the practical realization and full enjoyment of human rights. Indebted developing countries spend huge sums of their scarce national resources on debt servicing. In fact, they spend more on servicing the debt than on providing people with the necessary basis of education and health. As debt servicing reduces people to poverty and allows creditors to determine a country's political, economic, and social destiny, then debt invariably becomes a human rights issue.

http://www.afsc.org/africa-debt/learn-about-debt/debt-human-rights.htm

(Added: Tue Jan 11 2005   Modified: Wed Sep 24 2008   Hits: 455)

Treacherous conditions : How IMF and World Bank policies tied to debt relief are undermining development (PDF)

A World Development Movement report by Peter Hardstaff. May 2003. This report is part of the World Development Movement's (WDM) ongoing campaign to cancel the unpayable debts of the world's poorest countries and remove the inappropriate and damaging policy conditions attached to debt relief. As well as this failure to provide the resources for full debt cancellation, an equally serious problem with the HIPC initiative is that it is being used by the IMF and World Bank as yet another lever with which to press for free market policy reform in the poorest countries. These policies - known as conditionality - are the focus for this briefing.

http://www.wdm.org.uk/campaigns/cambriefs/debt/treachcond.pdf

(Added: Wed Oct 20 2004   Modified: Tue Jul 19 2005   Hits: 161)

Debt Sustainability: Oasis or Mirage? (PDF)

UNCTAD, 2004. This report is a summary of a study of debt sustainability in Africa. It addresses the debt problems of African countries in the context of achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. The analysis shows that, notwithstanding progress in the implementation of the enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative, indebted African countries would not find themselves in a sustainable debt situation, and it suggests ways and means of applying alternative criteria in order to ensure a permanent exit solution to the debt overhang.

http://www.unctad.org/en/docs//tdb51d3&c1_en.pdf

(Added: Thu Sep 30 2004   Modified: Tue Jun 14 2005   Hits: 315)

G7 - Do Not Delay: The World Needs 100% Debt Cancellation Now

September 27, 2004. Jubilee USA Network Responds to UK Chancellor Gordon Brown's Comments on Debt Cancellation.

http://www.commondreams.org/news2004/0927-20.htm

(Added: Wed Sep 29 2004   Modified: Wed Feb 14 2007   Hits: 129)

Glossary of debt terms

An extensive glossary of debt and development terms from Jubilee Research.

http://www.jubileeresearch.org/databank/glossary.htm

(Added: Fri Sep 10 2004   Modified: Wed Oct 11 2006   Hits: 133)

Jubilee Australia

Jubilee Australia's vision is a world in which the people of countries trapped in a cycle of poverty are released from the crushing burden of debt. Jubilee contends that rather than repaying loans to countries that have a long history of exploitation, countries be given a fresh start. Jubilee is looking for your support to help 'drop the debt'.

http://jubileeaustralia.org/

(Added: Thu Aug 05 2004   Modified: Tue Jun 14 2005   Hits: 115)

Freedom from Debt Coalition

A Filipino coalition conducting advocacy work in the national, local and international arenas aiming to realize a common framework and agenda for economic development.

http://fdc.ph/

(Added: Mon Aug 02 2004   Modified: Fri Sep 19 2008   Hits: 168)

100 Percent Debt Cancellation? A Response from the IMF and the World Bank

By IMF and World Bank Staffs, July 2001. This note considers the implications of proposals to cancel 100 percent of multilateral debt. First, it sets debt relief in the context of a broad strategy to fight poverty. Second it looks at the existing approach to poor country debt relief through the HIPC Initiative. Third, it turns to the fundamental question of what would be gained by such a proposal. Finally, the implications for development finance are looked at, including who would end up paying.

http://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/ib/2001/071001.htm

(Added: Fri Jul 23 2004   Modified: Tue Jun 14 2005   Hits: 250)

Resource Rich BWIs, 100% Debt Cancellation and the MDGs

By Sony Kapoor, 2004. This paper makes the case for higher levels of debt cancellation and grant (aid) flows for the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPCs) and shows how some of the additional resources needed for this can be mobilized by multilateral financial institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank. The paper is in three parts: Part A uses Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Uganda as case studies to highlight that both additional debt cancellation and higher grant (aid) flows are needed by the HIPCs in order to meet the MDGs; Part B shows how the World Bank and the IMF have ample resources not just to finance further debt relief but also to increase grant aid; Part C links the findings of Parts A and B to the results of the evaluation of International Debt Relief carried out by the Policy and Operations Evaluation Department (IOB) of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

http://www.jubileeresearch.org/news/mdgpaper.pdf#search=%22Resource%20Rich%20BWIs%2C%20100%25%20Debt%20Cancellation%20and%20the%20MDGs%22

(Added: Fri Jul 23 2004   Modified: Wed Oct 11 2006   Hits: 121)

The Transfer of Wealth: Debt and the making of a Global South (pdf)

Focus on the Global South, October 2000. A thought provoking collection of articles that lay bare the dynamics, the interlinkages and impact of debt, financial institutions and the making of a Global South.

http://www.focusweb.org/publications/Books/Transfer%20of%20Wealth.html

(Added: Tue Jul 13 2004   Modified: Tue Jun 14 2005   Hits: 133)

An Ounce of Prevention: G8 policy failures on conflict (pdf)

World Vision, 2004. A new World Vision report shows the accumulated debt of 16 of the world's worst war-torn countries could be wiped away for less than planned debt relief for one country: Iraq. The collective failure of international institutions - in particular G8 countries - to take conflict prevention seriously has contributed to the deaths of 14 million people and the displacement of 19 million people over the last four decades in 16 selected countries.

http://www.justice-and-peace.org/PolicyAdvocacy/pahome2.5.nsf/0/D237B93EE1B6587988256EA70003C7CF/$file/Cost_of_conflict.pdf

(Added: Mon Jun 28 2004   Modified: Fri Sep 26 2008   Hits: 409)

Zambia: Condemned to debt (pdf / Word)

World Development Movement, April 2004. Despite the disadvantage of being land-locked, Zambia was once one of the wealthiest countries in sub-Saharan Africa. This began to change in the early 1970s. After the oil crisis (increasing the price of imports) and relative commodity price collapse (reducing the revenue from exports), Zambia had to turn to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank for assistance. So began some thirty years of Bank and Fund intervention in the Zambian economy ... This report clearly demonstrates that the IMF and World Bank's involvement in Zambia has been unsuccessful, undemocratic and unfair. The evidence suggests that the past twenty years of IMF and World Bank intervention have exacerbated rather than ameliorated Zambia's debt crisis. Ironically, in return for debt relief, Zambia is required to do more of the same. The country has been condemned to debt.

http://www.wdm.org.uk/campaigns/cambriefs/debt/zambia/zambia.pdf

(Added: Mon Jun 21 2004   Modified: Wed Jan 10 2007   Hits: 162)

World Bank/IMF spring meetings 2004 Round Up

28th April 2004, Bretton Woods Project. This year's spring meetings of the World Bank and IMF mark 60 years of their founding in 1944. Fasts in Pakistan and outside the World Bank in DC were some of the actions taken by global justice campaigners to press on issues including debt cancellation. At an 'unhappy birthday party' thousands of 'unhappy birthday cards' were delivered to the Bank and Fund declaring that "it's no time for a party but time to Drop the Debt".

http://www.brettonwoodsproject.org/article.shtml?cmd[126]=x-126-46339

(Added: Thu Apr 29 2004   Modified: Tue Jun 14 2005   Hits: 140)

Call For Change : How the UK Can Afford to Cancel its Share of Third World Debt (Word)

Jubilee Debt Campaign & World Development Movement March 2004 Written by Ashok Sinha (JDC) with additional material by Martin Powell (WDM). Based on data supplied by Jubilee Research. Funded by Tearfund and WDM. Jubilee Debt Campaign and the World Development Movement have reviewed the latest data on poor country debts. The results show that, after existing commitments on debt relief are delivered, the 42 HIPC-eligible countries will still be left with a total multilateral debt of $34.9 billion (£18.6 billion). We find that it would cost the UK only £1.3 billion to unilaterally write off our share of this outstanding debt. Spread over the ten-year countdown to the 2015 Millennium Development Goals, that is equivalent to £2.85 per person a year. Other rich nations would face similar costs meeting their share of remaining multilateral debt. Poor countries must have full debt cancellation - multilateral as well as bilateral - as an essential first step towards meeting the 2015 Millennium Development Goals. It is also the only policy that stands a realistic chance of allowing poor countries the financial 'fresh start' that they have been promised. We argue that the UK must commit itself to financing its share of cancelling multilateral debt in support of meeting the MDGs.

http://www.jubileedebtcampaign.org.uk/?lid=472

(Added: Fri Apr 16 2004   Modified: Wed Jan 10 2007   Hits: 231)

Jubilee Aotearoa Debt Action Network

Jubilee Aotearoa is a network of agencies and individuals in New Zealand working together for the cancellation of the unjust and unpayable debts of poor countries. Jubilee Aotearoa is a local network but is linked to other Jubilee and debt campaigns in countries all around the world, poor and rich, south and north.

http://www.debtaction.org.nz

(Added: Thu Mar 25 2004   Modified: Tue Aug 23 2005   Hits: 341)

"What Are the Channels Through Which External Debt Affects Growth?" (pdf)

(From Eldis) By Pattillo, C.; Poirson, H.; Ricci, L. / International Monetary Fund (IMF), Working Paper 2004. This paper investigates the channels through which debt affects growth, specifically whether debt affects growth through factor accumulation or total factor productivity growth. It also tests for the presence of nonlinearities in the effects of debt on the different sources of growth. We use a large panel dataset of 61 developing countries over the period 1969-98. Results indicate that the negative impact of high debt on growth operates both through a strong negative effect on physical capital accumulation and on total factor productivity growth. On average, for high-debt countries, doubling debt will reduce output growth by about 1 percentage point and reduce both per capita physical capital and total factor productivity growth by somewhat less than that. In terms of the contributions to growth, approximately one-third of the effect of debt on growth occurs via physical capital accumulation and two-thirds via total factor productivity growth. The results are generally robust to the use of alternative estimators to control (to different extents) for biases associated with unobserved country-specific effects and the endogeneity of several regressors, particularly the debt variables. In particular, the results are shown to be compatible with a simultaneous significant effect of growth on debt ratios, as suggested by Easterly (2001). (The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate).

http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2004/wp0415.pdf

(Added: Mon Mar 15 2004   Modified: Tue Jun 14 2005   Hits: 262)

Jubilee South

Jubilee South is a network of jubilee and debt campaigns, social movements, people's organizations, communities, NGOs and political formations. The Jubilee South network aims to and is in the process of emerging and developing as an international South movement on the debt. It has members from over 40 countries from the regions of Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa and Asia/Pacific, composed of 85 groups.

http://www.jubileesouth.org/

(Added: Thu Dec 18 2003   Modified: Tue Jun 14 2005   Hits: 172)

Pay the Debt Owed to the Iraqi People

Jubilee South, December 2 2003. The debt of Iraq is odious and illegitimate, the product of the dictatorial regime of Saddam Hussein and its equally ruthless creditors. Addressing the issue of Iraqi debt must take into account the debt that is owed to the people of Iraq. The people of Iraq are the victims not only of a dictatorship, but of the deaths of thousands of its people by way of massive destruction, environmental disaster and the misery caused by two wars and 12 years of embargo. Reparations are therefore due to the people of Iraq.

http://www.jubileesouth.org/news/EpZpFuZyylTsttlJgH.shtml

(Added: Thu Dec 18 2003   Modified: Tue Jun 14 2005   Hits: 171)

Real Progress Report on HIPC (PDF)

Jubilee Research. By Romilly Greenhill and Elena Sisti, September 2003. The Real Progress Report on HIPC, launched just in advance of the IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings in Dubai, provides policy makers, politicians, NGOs, campaigners and debtor government with real information about the progress of the HIPC initiative. Intended as a shadow version of the official HIPC Status of Implementation Report, it answers the questions that the official HIPC reports do not: * How much debt has actually been cancelled? * Are creditors really sharing the burden of debt relief under the HIPC initiative? * Is HIPC debt relief enough to allow countries to meet the Millennium Development Goals? * Why is HIPC moving so slowly? (PDF-848Kb)

http://www.jubileeresearch.org/analysis/reports/realprogressHIPC.pdf#search=%22Real%20Progress%20Report%20on%20HIPC%20(PDF)%22

(Added: Thu Nov 13 2003   Modified: Wed Oct 11 2006   Hits: 224)

Debt Relief for Poor Countries (HIPC): Progress through March 2003

A Factsheet. IMF, April 2003. The IMF and the World Bank have approved debt-reduction packages for 26 countries, 22 of them in Africa, under the enhanced Initiative for the Heavily-Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC). These packages will provide nominal debt service relief of about $41 billion ($25 billion in net present value terms). Taken together with other traditional debt relief mechanisms and additional voluntary bilateral debt forgiveness, these countries will see their debts fall, on average in net present value terms, by about two thirds.

http://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/facts/povdebt.htm

(Added: Thu Oct 16 2003   Modified: Tue Jun 14 2005   Hits: 158)

Privatization in Latin America (PDF)

By John Nellis, Senior Fellow, Center for Global Development, Center for Global Development, Working Paper 31, August 2003. Abstract: Latin America, privatization started earlier and spread farther and morerapidly than in almost any other part of the world. More, and larger, firms weresold, and more proceeds were raised. Despite positive microeconomic results,privatization is highly and increasingly unpopular in the region. The core socialcriticism is that privatization contributes to growing poverty and inequality levelsin Latin America-and there is evidence to support the claim. But recent andrigorous studies contest or dilute the negative views, calculating thatprivatization has contributed only slightly to rising unemployment and inequality,and either reduces poverty or has no effect on it. Still, while privatization may bewinning the economic battle it is losing the political war: The benefits are spreadwidely, small for each affected consumer or taxpayer, and occur (or accrue) in themedium-term. In contrast, the costs are large for those concerned, who tend tobe visible, vocal, urban and organized, a potent political combination.

http://www.cgdev.org/content/publications/detail/2759

(Added: Tue Sep 02 2003   Modified: Tue Sep 12 2006   Hits: 244)

Debt Sustainability in Low-Income Countries-Towards a Forward-Looking Strategy (PDF)

Prepared by the Staff of the Policy Development and Review Department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), May 23, 2003. (324 kb pdf file)

http://www.imf.org/external/np/pdr/sustain/2003/052303.htm

(Added: Thu Jul 17 2003   Modified: Tue Jun 14 2005   Hits: 146)

IMF Soliciting Public Comment Related to the Design of an Operational Framework for Assessing Debt S

Press Release No. 03/115 July 15, 2003. To support low-income countries in achieving the Millennium Development Goals, while preventing a recurrence of debt problems that could undermine these objectives, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is working to develop a framework to guide low-income countries' borrowing. This framework is being developed in close collaboration with the World Bank and in consultation with donors and the low-income countries. It is intended to provide case-by-case guidance to countries that have already received permanent debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries' (HIPC) Initiative and to guide other low-income countries where debt is potentially an issue. Comments on the paper are invited by September 30, 2003 and should be sent by email to LICDebtSust@imf.org

http://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/pr/2003/pr03115.htm

(Added: Thu Jul 17 2003   Modified: Tue Jun 14 2005   Hits: 146)

Advancing the Odious Debt Doctrine (PDF)

By Ashfaq Khalfan, Jeff King and Bryan Thomas. CISDL Working Paper (2003). This study commenced in February 2000 for the Canadian Ecumenical Jubilee Initiative, with a view to assisting the various movements, both in the North and South, that advocate the cancellation of illegitimate Southern debt. The study is primarily, though not exclusively, concerned with legal avenues for cancelling odious debts, and addresses the following objectives: • To define what constitutes odious debt • To craft a solid argument for the cancellation of odious debt under international law • To examine the economic and social rights approach towards debt cancellation • To examine the various institutions that may be used to cancel illegitimate debts • To analyse possibilities for the cancellation of odious debt from the lens of international public policy.

http://www.odiousdebts.org/odiousdebts/publications/Advancing_the_Odious_Debt_Doctrine.pdf

(Added: Thu Jun 19 2003   Modified: Tue Jun 14 2005   Hits: 272)

Odious Debt (PDF)

Michael Kremer and Seema Jayachandran, April 2002. Some argue that sovereign debt incurred without the consent of the people and not for their benefit, such as that of apartheid South Africa, should be considered odious and not transferable to successor governments. We argue that an institution that truthfully announced whether regimes are odious could create an equilibrium in which successor governments suffer no reputational loss from failure to repay odious debt and hence creditors curtail odious lending. Equilibria with odious lending could be eliminated by amending creditor country laws to prevent seizure of assets for failure to repay odious debt and restricting foreign assistance to countries not repaying odious debt. Shutting down the borrowing capacity of illegitimate regimes can be viewed as a form of economic sanction and has two advantages over most sanctions: it helps rather than hurts the population, and it does not create incentives for evasion by third parties. However, an institution empowered to assess regimes might falsely term debt odious if it favored debtors, and if creditors anticipate this, they would not make loans to legitimate governments. An institution empowered only to declare future lending to a particular government odious would have greater incentives to judge truthfully. A similar approach could be used to reduce moral hazard associated with World Bank and IMF loans.

http://www.odiousdebts.org/odiousdebts/publications/OdiousDebtsPapefromIMFConference.pdf

(Added: Thu Jun 19 2003   Modified: Tue Jun 14 2005   Hits: 154)

Effects of structural adjustment policies and foreign debt on the full enjoyment of all human rights

United Nations Commission on Human Rights, Fifty-ninth session, Agenda item 10. Resolution approving the Commission's decision to renew the mandate of the independent expert on the effects of structural adjustment policies and foreign debt on the full enjoyment of human rights, particularly economic, social and cultural rights.

http://www.unhchr.ch/Huridocda/Huridoca.nsf/50b01c101750f048c1256610002c88a4/d02cd75838c2af5dc12569bc0050098c?OpenDocument

(Added: Fri May 02 2003   Modified: Wed Jan 10 2007   Hits: 463)

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