from www.jubilee2000uk.org
Jubilee 2000 Coalition condemns
stalling tactics of G8 and calls for
British Government to be ready to
go it alone
5/22/99
(...)
Reports of recent negotiations preparing for the Cologne communiqué
have revealed a disturbing lack of progress on debt cancellation. Jubilee
2000 campaigns around the world have forced creditors to respond to
pressure. There has been much rhetoric on the need for "radical debt
cancellation." However opponents of debt relief in the G8 seem to have
had the upper hand in negotiating meetings taking place behind closed
doors - and are using the opportunity to impose IMF austerity measures
on the poorest countries. These reports are likely to add a new tone of
anger to the Global Chain Reaction events taking place around the
world at the beginning of June - in the run-up to the G8 Summit in
Cologne.
Jubilee 2000 Coalition in the UK received the news from reliable
sources inside the G8. They suggest that the proposals for the Summit
will produce only meagre results for the world's poorest countries. The
Summit communiqué is likely to increase the number of eligible
countries (subject to good track records on IMF programmes) from 29
to 40 and to marginally increase debt relief on offer. However creditors
could not agree to assess the debt on more realistic terms, in particular
through the use of criteria or formulae that would provide an exit from
debt. The new proposals are therefore likely to only cancel debt that is
anyway not being paid, and to deliver almost no new resources for
investment in health and education.
The G8 leaders have also failed to address campaigners' demands for a
new and transparent process for determining debt relief.
Indications are that the IMF has won the battle to maintain control of
indebted economies through their structural adjustment programmes
(SAPs). The proposal from the British and German governments that
countries should obtain an exit from debt and IMF programmes after
three years, has been defeated by the IMF. Instead countries will be
offered debt relief after three years, but will still be required to
fulfil
another three years of SAPs. If during this latter period they go
“off-track”, then they will be penalised through the removal of earlier
debt relief. In other words, relief will be used in a draconian way, to
enforce IMF austerity programmes.
The IMF victory comes in the wake of continuing criticism of IMF
policies from a wide range of sources. The crisis in South East Asia and
Latin America unleashed a barrage of criticism of the IMF for its
economic advice - which many believe has exacerbated the economic
crisis in South East Asia and Latin America, and has led to rising levels
of poverty and unemployment. Criticism has also come from within the
World Bank, where the chief economist Joseph Stiglitz has condemned
structural adjustment programmes (SAPs) as 'misguided' and 'neglecting
... fundamental issues'.
The news prompted anger amongst Jubilee 2000 campaigners in Britain.
Ann Pettifor, Director of the Jubilee 2000 Coalition said: "The debt has
been an unpayable burden on the poorest countries for decades now. It
has shackled indebted governments to their creditors, represented by
the IMF, and forced them to accept austerity programmes that harm
their people, in particular the poor. And for all this time creditors have
procrastinated and prevaricated, spinning out the economic pain through
endless, costly re-scheduling. This news shows that the hard-faced
financiers have won out again; and that creditors have failed to learn any
lessons from history."
She added: "We want comprehensive, orderly debt cancellation by the
Jubilee year, the year 2000. If western creditors continue to stall
however, they will face a long period of campaigns for non-collection by
individual creditor nations. This will lead to divisions within their
ranks,
and possibly to further disorderly defaults. It is better for them to put
things right now”.
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Robert Naiman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Preamble Center
1737 21st NW
Washington, DC 20009
phone: 202-265-3263
fax: 202-265-3647
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