LONDON, England -- Finance ministers from the world's wealthiest nations have agreed to a historic accord to cancel up to $55 billion worth of debt owed by the world's poorest nations.
The Group of Eight (G8) ministers -- meeting for a second day Saturday in London -- backed a deal that calls for an immediate scrapping of 100 percent of the debt owed by 18 countries.
Those countries -- many in sub-Saharan Africa -- owe about $40 billion to the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the African Development Bank.
The G8 ministers also said 20 other countries could be eligible for debt relief if they meet targets for good governance and tackling corruption -- bringing the total package to more than $55 billion |
My initial reaction is these are very poor nations, and the chances they'll repay us or the rest of the world are slim to none. So maybe they can use the $40-55 billion in freed up cash flow to help there own people improve their quality of life, improve their infrastructure, and help stimulate their own economies.
That's the hopeless romantic wookie talking.
The pragmatist says lets check further into these countries...
[...]The countries are Benin, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guyana, Honduras, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. |
While there are a couple true fledgling democracies in the group, most are pseudo-republics with histories of voting irregularities or states subject to the whims of drug lords.
Now I watched "The Interview," as Primetime put it, last week with Brad Pitt about his Africa charity. I actually do respect him as an actor and even more so that he has generally (though not completely) kept his mouth shut when it comes to politics, unlike Julia Roberts, Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, and all the other stars that made cameos in Team America. And he's putting his money where his mouth is when it comes to his African charity work.
A side note on that episode of Primetime. I was shocked... SHOCKED! I say... when they said TWICE! "[paraphrasing] this little boy is alive because of President Bush's African drug program." If I had been sitting in a chair watching and not lying in bed, I'd have probably fallen over and hurt myself.
Now I'm all for charity and helping those who need it, and much of Africa certainly needs the help, but is voiding out their bills the best solution? The governments in some of these countries are sketchy with warring clans and drugs being huge political forces to be reckoned with. This voided debt coupled with whatever other aid packages the G8 summit plans: Bush propsed $674 million, Blair wants $25 billion. At what point do we stop giving other countries loans that we really never expect to be repaid? When does our financial well being outweigh our charitable nature? |
