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Make debt relief work: proposals for the G7

During the 1990s some progress has been made in developing improved debt relief frameworks, particularly from 1996 with the creation of a multilateral framework, known as the Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) initiative. Despite the fanfares, the debt crisis continues, undermining poverty reduction and human development, making the 2015 International Development Goals unattainable for many countries.

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/what_we_do/issues/debt_aid/debtrelief_g7.htm

(Added: Fri Jul 21 2000   Modified: Tue Jun 14 2005   Hits: 167)

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: 450)

Meeting of G8 Finance Ministers

The G8 Communique issued from Russia in February 2006 calls for the World Bank to fully implement the commitments made on the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (G8 deal) and challenges the Bank to work with low-income countries to develop country-specific energy strategies to help them achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

http://www.g8finance.ru/fs_eng_110206.htm

(Added: Thu Feb 16 2006   Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007   Hits: 104)

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: 215)

NZ must seize golden opportunity to drop the debt

Oxfam New Zealand, 27 September. New Zealand has an important role to play in a historic opportunity to provide a fresh start for the world's poor. Since the 1970s, a mountain of unpayable debt has trapped the world's poorest countries in a cycle of debt and poverty. Finally, after decades of half measures, Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown has broken ranks and committed to cancel the share of the multilateral debts owed to Britain. Today, Oxfam New Zealand has called on Dr Michael Cullen as Minister of Finance to back this proposal, which would be financed partly from government funds and partly from revaluation of IMF gold reserves.

http://www.oxfam.org/en/news/pressreleases2004/pr040927_imf_debt.htm

(Added: Wed Sep 29 2004   Modified: Tue Sep 12 2006   Hits: 126)

Odious Debt

Probe International's Odious Debts Web site: The Internet source for information about the global odious debt movement. They provide: An e-library of legal information about the principle of odious debt; A forum for citizens and advocacy groups throughout the world to post details of their country's odious debts and describe the efforts made to establish the illegal nature of these debts; An archive of information relevant to legal challenges to Third World debt.

http://www.odiousdebts.org

(Added: Thu Feb 20 2003   Modified: Tue Jun 14 2005   Hits: 106)

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: 122)

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: 128)

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: 254)

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: 62)

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: 138)

Paying for 100% Multilateral Debt Cancellation: Current proposals explained (PDF 225.36 KB)

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/uploadstore/cms/docs/GoldFAQpaper.pdf

(Added: Fri Feb 11 2005   Modified: Tue Jun 14 2005   Hits: 245)

Pick up the Pace Campaign

Jubilee Debt Campaign's new Pick Up the Pace campaign is calling for further and faster debt cancellation for the world's poorest countries. Nearly ten years after the Birmingham G8 summit in 1998, when world leaders promised to drop the debt, debt cancellation is coming too slowly, and is too limited, for millions of people living in poverty.

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

(Added: Tue Mar 04 2008   Hits: 94)

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: 173)

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: 44)

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: 192)

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: 97)

Relief Works: African proposals for debt cancellation - and why debt relief works (PDF)

A report from Jubilee Research at the New Economics Foundation. By Romilly Greenhill and Sasha Blackmore, August 2002. This report shows that debt relief works. In an exclusive review of newly available data on government budgets in African countries, we show that the debt relief delivered to date has resulted in large increases in spending on education and health in Africa - and no increase in spending on defence. The report also examines the new approach to debt relief proposed by African leaders in the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD.)

http://www.jubileeresearch.org/analysis/reports/reliefworks.pdf

(Added: Thu Sep 05 2002   Modified: Tue Jun 14 2005   Hits: 145)

Resolving the Debt Crisis of Low-Income Countries

By Jeffrey D . Sachs, Harvard University. THE IDEA OF BANKRUPTCY FOR insolvent sovereign borrowers has been around a long time, at least since Adam Smith's favorable mention of it in the Wealth of Nations.1 Kenneth Rogoff and Jeromin Zettelmeyer have recently reviewed the history of the idea, as has Ann Pettifor. The current international framework for workouts of distressed sovereign borrowers is woefully inadequate, lacking both the efficiency and the equity protec-tions that characterize well-designed bankruptcy systems. This paper focuses on one part of the problem, namely, the plight of the world's most highly indebted poor countries, and illustrates the serious problems that have arisen because of the weakness of international institutional arrange-ments. I conclude with several recommendations for reform.

http://www.earthinstitute.columbia.edu/about/director/pubs/BPEA_Sachs1_2002.pdf#search=%22Resolving%20the%20Debt%20Crisis%20of%20Low-Income%20Countries%22

(Added: Mon Aug 26 2002   Modified: Fri Sep 15 2006   Hits: 162)

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: 93)

Responding To The Financial Crisis: Better Off Without The IMF?: The Case For Jamaica

(Document) Finance And Development Research Programme. Working Paper Series. Paper No 38. Colin Kirkpatrick, IDPM, University of Manchester and David Tennant, University of the West Indies, Jamaica (February 2002). The adverse economic and social effects of the financial crises that have afflicted many developing countries in recent years, have highlighted the need to develop a policy response which addresses the vulnerability of financial systems to systemic instability and crisis. The paper examines the experience of Jamaica, a country which successfully managed a financial sector crisis during the 1990s, without the assistance or involvement of the IMF. Lessons are drawn from the Jamaica case study for the reform of IMF support to developing countries in managing financial sector instability and crisis.

http://www.devinit.org/findev/Fd-wp38.doc

(Added: Thu Oct 10 2002   Modified: Tue Jun 14 2005   Hits: 173)

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: 62)

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/uploadstore/cms/docs/SkeletonsCupboardG7Report.pdf

(Added: Fri Feb 09 2007   Hits: 107)

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: 110)

Southern Links

Southern Links campaigns on issues of economic injustice affecting the world's poorest people. They work alongside committed activists in the South and with partners in the North to achieve real change for the world's poorest people. Southern Links are committed to a new and dynamic phase of the internationalist movement to restore justice in international financial arrangements and to support the campaigns of the Southern poor for economic freedom.

http://www.southernlinks.org/

(Added: Thu Mar 25 2004   Modified: Thu Jun 16 2005   Hits: 460)

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