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Katherine Scott
Joined: Jul 26, 2006
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MDGs and Debt Relief
September 28, 2006 - 02:12 PM
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A recent news article inspired me to think more critically about the ways in which governments, international groups, celebrities and individuals are approaching debt relief. Things are not always as they appear. While the intentions of advocates of debt relief for poor countries are heartfelt and well-meaning, it seems that there may be strings attached.
Just as the loans granted to developping countries in the 1980s came with economic and political conditionalities, so too are the projects being implemented to reverse the damage of structural adjustment programs. Is history repeating itself? Are wealthy countries justified in demanding that certain economic criteria be met in order to write-off the loans that are crippling state economies? This is a dangerous game to play; particularly when many countries require debt relief because loans provided funds for authoritarian regimes to squander and mismanage leaving citizens and new governments with unmanageable and unsustainable financial responsabilities.
Katherine Scott
Toronto, On
27/09/2006
A Different Take on Debt Relief [edit] [delete]
Friday 15 September 2006
'Bob Geldof, you are not our messiah'
DeRoy Kwesi Andrew, Ghanaian co-producer of the film Damned by Debt Relief, on how post-Live 8 'charity' is strangling poor countries.
Brendan O’Neill
Remember last year when Bob Geldof, Bono, Blair and others excitedly declared that they had liberated poor African countries from crippling international debt?
Read the entire article at: http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/article/1662/
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vas
Joined: Aug 7, 2006
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Re: MDGs and Debt Relief
September 29, 2006 - 06:53 AM
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and hunger; achieving universal primary education; promoting gender equality and empowering women; reducing child mortality; improving maternal health; combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; and ensuring environmental sustainability. The eighth goal calls for the creation of a global partnership for development, with targets for aid, trade, and debt relief.
To achieve these it is important to-
dismantle barriers to trade; substantially increase the level and effectiveness of aid, Strengthen macroeconomic policy, with a focus on fiscal management and the structure of public spending.
There is a problem with aid.Fisrt the promise aid doesnot laways comes on time and second good given via aid are often not required in receiving countries.Moreover more efforts should be made towards technology transfer and infrastructre building.
http://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/facts/hipc.htm
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTDEBTDEPT/0,,menuPK:64166739~pagePK:64166681~piPK:64166725~theSitePK:469043,00.html
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MOHAMMED ALIYU PAIKO
Joined: Apr 18, 2005
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Re: MDGs and Debt Relief
September 30, 2006 - 10:47 AM
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However people may choose to look at it, debt relief must be accompanied with a sustainable action plan by the recipient governmen as to how the funds saved from the relief would be administered. This sometimes includes conditions which may not on the surface look realistic or palatable, but may eventually prove to be the so.
Remember, the funds by the lending institutions belong to individuals, governments or corporate entities too who struggled through tedious means to accumulate them. As such, it would not be totally wise for a lending institution to offer debt relief to a corrupt government in a developing country, only for the corrupt leaders to see the act as an opportunity to loot the money that the country would have otherwise used for genuine development programmes, would it?
I think any country which seeks debt relief should do so by providing a detailed sustainable development programme that would genuinly tell the lending institutions how the relief is supposed to be spent.
If I am writting off a debt that you owe me, it would be wise for me to know how you intend to use it to develop yourself so that I do not stand the risk of being burdened by you in future. This, to my mind does not exclude for me to set an agenda of how you intend to spend it, probably under my supervission. Afterall, its my money we are talking about here!
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some1onearth
Joined: May 23, 2005
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Re: MDGs and Debt Relief
December 3, 2006 - 07:08 AM
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exactly. the achievement of the MDGs depends on the sustainability of action. that's why the debt relief become so important. it gives the government--the country--an opportunity to 'fix' its country for sustainability and have a better life for the people.
besides, the debt itself is still controversial. no one's sure whether it's legitimate or not. even the rich countries itself.
like the most recent news i heard the Norwegian government cancelled some of its debts being paid to it because they admitted that the debts are ILLEGITIMATE. it said the debts arose because of its own reckless and unfair lending. so they took responsibility by cancelling these debts--an action that never been taken by another rich countries before.
that means, cancellation of $80 million worth of debts for five poor countries -
and very importantly, putting pressure on other rich countries to
examine whether their outstanding debt claims are really LEGITIMATE.
for the full story please check this out : http://www.jubileedebtcampaign.org.uk/norway
the fact that this thing is still going on is so ridiculous. those debts just don't make any sense. look at what could probably happened if they just do the right thing--giving a REAL relief for the poor countries to achieve MDGs and lift their people out of poverty.
peace
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