ABSTRACT
In the closing months of the last century, the debt problems of heavily indebted poor countries (HIPCs) enjoyed unprecedented exposure as Jubilee 2000, and related non-governmental organization (NGO) campaigns for debt forgiveness for these countries, shifted into high gear. The governments of creditor countries and international financial institutions responded to that challenge. First, at their annual meeting in Cologne in June 1999, the G7 governments committed to broader, faster, and deeper debt relief for the poorest countries. Then, at the annual general meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in September 1999, the HIPC Initiative, the instrument for delivering multilateral debt relief to these countries, was upgraded to the Enhanced HIPC Initiative. This new initiative offers more generous interpretations of debt sustainability, the chance for more rapid qualification for debt relief, and the conditioning of debt relief on a commitment by these countries to poverty reduction.
