Debt Relief for the Poorest : An OED Review of the HIPC Initiative
The review by the Operations Evaluation Department finds the Heavily Indebted poor Countries (HIPC) initiative highly relevant in addressing a key obstacle facing many poor countries. If the anticipated debt relief is delivered in full, the initiat...
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Language: | English en_US |
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Washington, DC: World Bank
2013
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Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2003/05/2360797/debt-relief-poorest-oed-review-hipc-initiative http://hdl.handle.net/10986/15164 |
Summary: | The review by the Operations Evaluation
Department finds the Heavily Indebted poor Countries (HIPC)
initiative highly relevant in addressing a key obstacle
facing many poor countries. If the anticipated debt relief
is delivered in full, the initiative will succeed in
substantially achieving its fundamental goal of reducing the
excessive debt burden of the qualifying countries. But the
legitimizing process that helped make the initiative a
reality has also expanded its objectives. The initiative
seeks to provide a "permanent" exit from debt
rescheduling, promote growth, and release resources for
social expenditures targeted at poverty reduction. Achieving
these objectives will require actions by donors and the HIPC
governments that are beyond the scope and means of the
initiative. Unmanageable debt is a problem that needs to be
effectively dealt with, but it is also a result of economic
and political factors constraining growth and poverty
reduction. The HIPC Initiative is thus an important but
small part of the overall development assistance framework.
Having provided the HIPCs with an opportunity for a
"fresh start," the international community still
faces a challenge in helping these countries set out on a
sustainable path for growth and poverty reduction. |
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