Guest post by Tim Jones, Jubilee Debt Campaign
Debt payments by the most impoverished countries are set to rise over coming years as part of the fallout from the global financial crisis. The new report from Jubilee Debt Campaign, The state of debt, shows how this threatens to extend the 30-year pattern of debt crises across the globe, from the Mexican debt crisis of 1982 to the Eurozone crisis today.
Thirty-two countries, mainly in Africa, have had $120 billion of debt cancelled in response to the global jubilee campaign. The cancellation came at a cost. To get debt cancelled, countries had to continue following IMF and World Bank economic policies. For example, as the World Development Movement highlighted at the time, Tanzania had to privatise a water company, which failed just a few years later. Malawi had to sell off grain reserves, worsening a food crisis.
However, governments in the 32 countries have seen the amount of their revenue lost to debt payments fall from 20 per cent in 1998 to 5 per cent today. This has allowed an expansion...





























