ABSTRACT
The aim of this book is to evaluate the results of international debt relief efforts since 1990 and, in particular, their effects on the recipient countries. Debt relief continues to be a highly controversial subject. Although many heavily indebted poor countries (HIPCs) have received large amounts of debt relief over the past 25 years, they still seem to need more. Apparently, the effects have not always been favourable. From this, two contradictory conclusions can be drawn. Some argue that the international community has done far too little in alleviating the debt burden of poor countries. They have been given just sufficient relief to enable them to pay their primary creditors but not enough to allow their economies to grow, let alone to reduce poverty (Sachs 2002). International non-governmental organizations (NGOs), supported by several academic authors argue that more debt relief is necessary, especially in order to achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals1 by the year 2015 (Berlage et al. 2003; Hertz 2004; Sachs 2005). Others conclude that too much relief has already been given. They argue that the most heavily indebted countries are also countries with bad policies and weak institutions, so that in the past the greatest relief has gone to countries with bad policies or without good governance (Easterly 2002; Neumayer 2002; Asiedu 2003).
