A recent campaign by the Jubilee Debt Campaign highlighted a few issues including:
- The people with the money seem to think that the best way to help a country which is up to its neck in debt is – to lend it some money. For example back last summer there was a report on Ghana which had debt cancelled in 2004 and 2005 but looks as though its debt repayments will rise to the same amounts or more by the mid 2020s.
- The government seems to think that lending money is giving aid. Apparently as long as the interest rate charged is less than 7%, government loans can be classed as aid.
- Most lending to low-income countries comes from international lenders including the World Bank and the IMF
I know I am a simple soul, but this does not sound like the best way to help countries out of debt.
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