Debt

ANALYSIS OF CREDITOR POLICY

Eurodad have published a detailed (170 page) analysis of creditor policy in the face of debtor poverty - Taking Stock of Debt. The publication contains new analysis on the debt problem as well as up to date creditor and debtor country profiles. Its special feature is an in-depth examination of a wide range of creditor policies in the context of HIPC the Highly Indebted Poor Country's initiative launched in 1996. EURODAD argue that the HIPC initiative has fallen far short of expectations and that creditor governments are not living up to their own rhetoric on transparency - failing to make available details on international borrowing and lending which in the past enabled EURODAD to compile the world credit tables (1996). EURODAD The European Network on Debt and Development, Fax: 32.2.544 05 59 E-mail: eurodad@agoranet.be web www.oneworld.org/eurodad

LATEST STATISTICS ON DEBT

As from March 99, the OECD Website will be hosting a new series of quarterly statistics on debt for 176 developing and transition countries. Publication which involves the IMF, the OECD and the World Bank is in response to requests for more timely dissemination of external debt indicators. The statistics can be found at: www.oecd.org/dac/debt/

The publication is a project of the Inter-agency Taskforce on Finance Statistics which also involves the United Nations, the European Central Bank and Eurostat. The statistics are mostly from creditor and market sources but also include data provided by debtor countries. The statistics are supposed to be the best international comparative data currently available on external debts. For info contact: Jane Saint-Sernin e-mail jane.st-sernin@oecd.org fax 33 1 45 24 19 80.

IS HIPC FAILING?

The UK Parliament's International Development Committee published its report on Debt Relief and the Cologne G8 Summit (HC470) in June 99. The IDC concludes that the HIPC initiative is on the brink of failure, and it calls on the G8 countries to dispel the inertia which has so far characterised implementation of the HIPC initiative. The IDC notes that Uganda and Bolivia, the first two countries to receive relief under HIPC, are said to already have returned to unsustainable levels of debt - even using the narrow definition of sustainability used in the HIPC initiative. The Committee recommends that revised HIPC formulae should be based not on the willingness of creditors to provide funds, but on a realistic assessment of the levels of debt which HIPC countries can sustain. The Committee wants countries to establish a record of no more than three years' economic reform, in order to qualify for relief. For info contact: Janet Hughes, fax 44 (0) 171 219 6606. The full report is on: www.parliament.uk

IS HIPC HALFWAY THERE?

Oxfam International's July 99 briefing Halfway there? asks whether the Cologne agreement will provide enough debt relief to support ambitious and globally agreed plans for poverty reduction - and whether the G7 countries will match rhetoric with the necessary finance. Oxfam note that multilateral and bilateral costs of the new initiative will amount to $49.5 billion compared to $22.5 for existing HIPC plans. Oxfam welcome the linkage of debt relief to poverty reduction programmes - but argue that increases in social spending and steps to ensure the protection of poor people under adjustment do not go far enough. What Oxfam wants to see is poverty reduction (as opposed to the achievement of narrow monetary objectives) as the primary objective of adjustment programmes. Oxfam email advocacy@oxfaminternational.org fax + 1 202 783 5547.

COLOGNE MEETING June 99

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder wrote an article in the Financial Times (January 21, 1999) calling for further debt relief for HIPC countries. Whilst German NGOs have pointed to gaps in the German government's Cologne Initiative - put forward in advance of the G7 (G8) meeting in Cologne in June 1999 - they are nonetheless welcoming the fact that Germany is taking a more positive role on debt, compared to the stance under former Chancellor Kohl. See Development and Co-operation Magazine, Issue 3, May/June 1999, fax +49 (69) 7501 4855, e-mail 106145.1065@compuserve.com

DFID UK produced a briefing paper outlining their current (Mar 99) perspective on debt prior to the Cologne meting. Phone +44 1355 84 3132, web www.dfid.gov.uk

JAPAN's plans for debt relief for HIPC countries is available on the web at:www.mofa.go.jp/policy/oda/loanaid/plan9904.html Japanese NGO perspectives on debt can be gathered from Jubilee 2000 Japan - Email parc@jca.ax.apc.org web: www.jca.ax.apc.org/parc fax + 813 3292 2437.

DIGEST ON BANK & IMF

The very useful digest of info, action and contacts on the Bank and IMF, Bretton Woods Update, is now available on the web at www.brettonwoodsproject.org Bretton Woods Project PO Box 100, London, SE1 7RT E-mail bwref@gn.apc.org Fax +44 (0)171 620 0719.

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