NGOs around the globe are issuing their detailed responses to the multilateral debt cancellation plan put forward earlier this month by G8 Finance Ministers. Most point to the continued reliance on damaging and unproven IMF/World Bank conditionalities.
The limited number of countries covered is another important concern as if the fact that this proposal will not ensure that people in developing countries will regain control over the economic decisions that affect their lives.
NGOs and social movements around the globe will therefore continue in their struggle for a fair, transparent and comprehensive solution to the debt crisis of the South. Below, Eurodad has compiled some of the main reports and commentaries.
African Jubilee South statement on the G7 finance ministers debt cancellation announcement
While the G7 Finance Ministers have struck a long overdue deal to cancel some of the multilateral debts of 18 of the poorest countries they have at the same time strengthened their control over these economies, to the great detriment of the citizenries. This is the outcome of the G7 Finance Ministers meeting held 10 - 11 June 2005. This is because in order to qualify for debt cancellation eligible countries would have had to have gone through what is known as the Heavily Indebted Poor Country Initiative's completion point, which involves the implementation of stringent free market reforms such as budget cuts, financial and trade liberalisation, privatisation and other reforms that ensure the elimination of impediments to private investment, both domestic and foreign. Twenty other countries may qualify but only if they are prepared to go through the same pain that the 18 countries have already endured.
Many commentators, academics, theologians and activists within the economic justice movement point out that the costs of Structural Adjustment Programmes and creditor imposed conditionality far outweigh the amount of debt to be cancelled.
Full statement: http://www.bicusa.org/bicusa/issues/africa/2170.php
Eurodad
Devilish details: Implications of the G7 debt deal
The recent G7 debt cancellation deal represents an important breakthrough. There are, however, many serious limitations. The proposed deal is not nearly as generous as G7 Finance Ministers would have us believe, continues to rely on controversial conditions and does nothing to address global power imbalances that perpetuate the debt-poverty trap of the Global South. There remains much to be done to ensure campaigners and the broader public are not misled.
In English: http://www.eurodad.org/articles/default.aspx?id=628
En français: http://www.eurodad.org/uploadstore/cms/docs/G7_accord_FR.pdf
En español: http://www.eurodad.org/uploadstore/cms/docs/G7_Acuerdo_español.pdf
50 Years is Enough Statement: "G8 Debt Cancellation Deal: An Incomplete, Yet Positive Step Forward"
That the G8 deal includes debt claimed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the most demanding of creditors and the most resistant to cancellation, is important, for it is that debt that is most exploited to impose conditions on countries – and because there had been resistance to including IMF debt until the last minute. But a closer reading of the agreement reveals that it does not ensure that the people of the Global South will regain control over economic decisions that affect their lives on an intimate and daily basis.
http://www.50years.org/cms/updates/story/265
Bretton Woods Project
G8 cancellation of World Bank, IMF debt: "step forward"
G7 finance ministers (the G8 minus Russia) agreed to write off $40 to $55 billion of debts owed to the World Bank, IMF and African Development Bank (AfDB) in a meeting in London.
http://www.brettonwoodsproject.org/article.shtml?cmd[126]=x-126-241269
Jubilee South
JUSTICE DEMANDS UNCONDITIONAL and TOTAL DEBT CANCELLATION FOR ALL SOUTH COUNTRIES!
The financial burden of debt servicing is staggering. It results in the violation of our people's basic rights and impoverishes our countries. The injustice is magnified even further when we examine the onerous and often odious nature, terms and purposes of many of these debts and the negative consequences of numerous debt-financed projects, for which northern lenders and authoritarian and corrupt South governments are responsible.
http://www.jubileesouth.org/news/EEEAFuVVVuzaZQTNXT.shtml
The CADTM declares G8 countries' debt cancellation projects a sham
Far from the geopolitical strategies and the mean-minded calculations of the major powers, the CADTM (Committee for the Abolition of Third World Debt) affirms that total cancellation of the external public debt for all developing countries, while in fact easy to bring about, is diametrically opposed to what the G8 countries have in mind for the upcoming summit in Scotland at the beginning of July.
In English: http://www.cadtm.org/article.php3?id_article=1444
Jubilee USA Network
"First Step on A Long Journey," is a 14-page report and analysis of the G-8 debt deal announced on June 11 and to be further discussed at the G-8 Summit in Scotland in early July.
The report highlights the achievements, as well as the limitations and shortcomings of the deal. It also makes recommendations for next steps. It is intended as a resource for policymakers, the media, and grassroots supporters.
2-page executive summary: http://www.jubileeusa.org/press_room/firststepex.pdf
Full Report: http://www.jubileeusa.org/press_room/firststep.pdf