Debt reduction
The development of many low income countries is slowed by heavy external debts. Donors have launched policies to try to address this problem, primarily the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative. HIPC was announced in 1996, jointly by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. It aimed to reduce to sustainable levels the external debt burdens of the most heavily indebted poor countries.
In 1999, modifications to the HIPC Initiative were made, as many felt that it was failing to deliver this goal. While this enhanced form of the HIPC Initiative aims to provide 'faster, deeper and broader debt relief' and has provided some countries with the opportunity to increase spending in other ways, such as on health and education, it is recognised that the initiative itself is not a panacea. Other debt reduction policies include the 'swapping' of debt for various policy investments, in health as well as in other fields.
- Debt relief and public health spending in heavily indebted poor countries
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This article, from a special health focused edition of Finance and Development, reviews the HIPC (heavily indebted poor country) debt relief programme and its relation to spending on health care. The authors highlight how HIPC went beyond earlier debt relief programmes because it was placed within an overall framework of poverty reduction.
Recommended readings
- Debt-for-AIDS swaps: a UNAIDS policy information brief
- ( Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS , 2004)
- This policy information brief on debt-for-AIDS swaps is intended to provide further insights into debt swaps, along with examples of their use in the context of development projects, and their relativ...
- Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative—Status of Implementation
- ( World Bank , 2005)
- This report reviews progress and issues in implementing the enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative. In addition to that, it discusses the decline in the participation of commercial...
- Tracking of poverty-reducing public spending in Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPCs)
- ( International Monetary Fund , 2001)
- Public spending is critical for reducing poverty in developing countries, but only if it is targeted effectively. This paper summarises the preliminary findings of a joint World Bank-IMF public expend...
Latest Additions
- Examining the effects of debt on the provision of healthcare
- ( Jubilee Debt Campaign , 2007)
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Developing country governments will struggle to invest in decent public health facilities when valuable resources are needed to service debt. However, the evidence is that debt relief works to alle...
- Better monitoring systems and strengthened domestic institutions needed to achieve debt relief goals
- ( S. Gupta; B. Clements; M. Guin-Siu; L. Leruth / Finance and Development, IMF , 2004)
- This article, from a special health focused edition of Finance and Development, reviews the HIPC (heavily indebted poor country) debt relief programme and its relation to spending on health care. The ...
