Monday 13 June, 2005
G8 Debt Relief: A Step in the Right Direction
The announcement yesterday by the Group of Eight (G8) to wipe $NZ56 billion of debt of some of the world’s poorest
nations has been welcomed by Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand, the Catholic agency for justice, peace and development.
“Any move to address the crippling burden of debt on the world’s poorest countries has to be welcomed, and these
announcements will benefit a number of countries where we have partners – particularly Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, and
Nicaragua. The evidence in these countries is that when debt relief has been provided, they have been able to
dramatically improve their provision of health and education for their people,” says Caritas Programmes Manager, Peter
Zwart.
“But we also need to read beneath the headlines. The last round of big cancellation announcements were made in 2000 and
at that time many people thought that the issue of debt had been solved by the G8 governments. In fact, it was only a
small part of a solution. Five years after 2000, only 27 out of the more than 50 poor countries in dire need of debt
cancellation have received anything from that deal.”
The new announcement will only initially assist 18 of these countries and up to 33 in the longer term and the benefits
will go to those who have been following a stringent set of economic restructuring packages. While the relief will be
good for these countries, and is long overdue, it will do little to help those countries who face conflict or who have
been unwilling to adopt this kind of restructuring, and which are currently failing to achieve the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs).
“We also need to treat figures such as NZ$56 billion with some caution. In the past, these kinds of announcements often
include figures that were approved earlier, so the amount of new resources is likely to be far less.
“This is a first step, but we need to provide sufficient cancellation to all countries prevented from meeting the MDGs
through lack of finance,” said Zwart.
Caritas Aotearoa NZ has been researching and advocating for debt cancellation for the past eight years; before, during
and after the Jubilee Year. Caritas together with Christian World Service coordinates the work of Jubilee Aotearoa New
Zealand (www.debtaction.org.nz) and a Debt Working Group which brings together officials from Treasury and NZAID.
ENDS