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12. Oxfam Publishing: Meeting Real Needs: A major change for donors to the Democratic Republic of the Congo 2006
- Author:
- Eva Smets
- Publication Date:
- 02-2006
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is at a critical point in its history. While the forthcoming elections offer the country new opportunities, it is also facing rising tensions, and at least 42 million people still endure appalling poverty and suffering.
- Topic:
- Debt and Humanitarian Aid
- Political Geography:
- Africa and Democratic Republic of the Congo
13. Will Debt Relief Make a Difference? Impact and Expectations of the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative
- Author:
- Todd Moss
- Publication Date:
- 05-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Global Development
- Abstract:
- The Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) is the latest phase of debt reduction for poor countries from the World Bank, the IMF, and the African Development Bank. The MDRI, which will come close to full debt reduction for at least 19 (and perhaps as many as 40) qualifying countries, is being presented as a momentous leap forward in the battle against global poverty. However, the analysis in this paper suggests that the actual gains may be more modest and elusive. This is not because, as some anti-debt campaigners fear, that the initiative is a mere accounting trick. Rather, the limited short-term financial impact of the MDRI on affected countries is because the debt service obligations being relived were themselves relatively insignificant. For example, in 2004 the average African country in the program paid $19 million in debt service to the World Bank, but received 10 times that amount in new Bank credit and more than 50 times as much in total aid. Just as importantly, finances are rarely the binding constraint on poverty and other development outcomes. This is not to say that the MDRI is futile. Indeed the impact could be considerable over the long-term, especially on the ability of creditors to be more selective in the future. But most of the impact of the MDRI will be long-term and difficult to measure. As such, expectations of the effect on indebted countries and development indicators should be kept modest and time horizons long.
- Topic:
- Debt, Development, Economics, and International Organization
- Political Geography:
- Africa
14. Beyond Victimhood: Women's Peacebuilding in Sudan, Congo and Uganda
- Publication Date:
- 06-2006
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- International Crisis Group
- Abstract:
- Peacebuilding cannot succeed if half the population is excluded from the process. Crisis Group's research in Sudan, Congo (DRC) and Uganda suggests that peace agreements, post-conflict reconstruction, and governance do better when women are involved. Women make a difference, in part because they adopt a more inclusive approach toward security and address key social and economic issues that would otherwise be ignored. But in all three countries, as different as each is, they remain marginalised in formal processes and under-represented in the security sector as a whole. Governments and the international community must do much more to support women peace activists.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, International Relations, Debt, and Diplomacy
- Political Geography:
- Uganda, Africa, Sudan, and Democratic Republic of the Congo
15. Fiscal Policy for Poverty Reduction, Reconstruction, and Growth
- Author:
- Matthew Smith, Alan Roe, and Tony Addison
- Publication Date:
- 06-2006
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- United Nations University
- Abstract:
- An effective state is able to mobilize revenue and spend it on infrastructure, services, and public goods that both enhance human capital and the well-being of communities (especially the poor), as well as stimulating investment and employment creation by the private sector. An effective state also manages public finance to ensure that macroeconomic balance is maintained—with policy neither too restrictive to discourage private investment and growth, nor too accommodative to create high inflation and crowd out private investment. Fiscal issues are therefore at the heart of the state's role in the development process and failure in this policy area—whether it is in taxation, public expenditures, or in managing the fiscal deficit and public debt—can quickly undermine growth and poverty reduction. Fiscal weakness can also be fatal to social peace when one or more ethnic, religious, or regional groups are taxed unfairly—or receives too little in the allocation of public spending.
- Topic:
- Debt, Development, Economics, and Poverty
- Political Geography:
- Africa and Asia
16. Resolving Nigeria's Paris Club Debt Problem: A Case of Non-Performing Creditors
- Author:
- Lex Rieffel
- Publication Date:
- 08-2005
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- Intense domestic pressure has convinced Nigeria's President, Olusegun Obasanjo, to consider a deal that would eliminate the country's $31 billion of debt owed to the governments of the United Kingdom, France, and other aid-giving countries.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Debt, and Economics
- Political Geography:
- Africa, United Kingdom, Paris, France, and Nigeria
17. Nigeria's Paris Club Debt Problem
- Publication Date:
- 08-2005
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- Intense domestic pressure has convinced Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo to seek a deal that would eliminate the country's $31 billion of debt owed to the governments of the U.K., France, and other aid-giving countries that use the Paris Club process to restructure debt that countries cannot repay. The Paris Club creditors have proposed an unprecedented operation—its first-ever buyback at a discount—that would cancel all of Nigeria's debt to them in exchange for a cash payment of roughly $12 billion.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, International Relations, and Debt
- Political Geography:
- Africa, United Kingdom, Paris, France, and Nigeria
18. The G-8 Debt Deal: First Step On A Long Journey
- Author:
- Debayani Kar and Neil Watkins
- Publication Date:
- 06-2005
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Foreign Policy In Focus
- Abstract:
- Jubilee campaigns and debt cancellation advocates can be proud of their efforts. The Finance Ministers of the eight rich country governments as represented at the Group of 8 (G-8) have announced a deal on 100% debt cancellation of International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, and African Development Fund debt for some impoverished nations.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Debt, Development, and Economics
- Political Geography:
- Africa
19. Diamonds, Foreign Aid, and the Uncertain Prospects for Post-Conflict Reconstruction in Sierra Leone
- Author:
- J. Andrew Grant
- Publication Date:
- 08-2005
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- United Nations University
- Abstract:
- This article examines the external and internal dimensions of post-conflict reconstruction in Sierra Leone. The United Nations, bilateral donors such as the United Kingdom, and transnational non-governmental organizations and aid agencies have been instrumental in providing much-needed external assistance to Sierra Leone during the latter stages of its civil war and in the immediate post-war period. Although foreign aid is a welcome source of external support for reconstruction efforts, it is finite like any other resource. Reconstruction must also address intangible issues such as corruption as well as the healing of society through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Special Court for Sierra Leone. Diamond exports hold potential as an internal source to spur economic growth and reconstruction. However, as the article illustrates, many obstacles remain, ranging from governance weaknesses in terms of capacity and domestic regulatory schemes on diamonds to the existence of illicit mining and smuggling of diamonds to regional instability.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Debt, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- Africa and United Kingdom
20. Africa's Debt: Fueling the fire of AIDS
- Publication Date:
- 05-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Africa Policy Information Center
- Abstract:
- Africa is the world's poorest region, and most of its people live on less than $1 a day... but African countries owe $300 billion in foreign debt. This is a huge financial burden on the people of Africa. While African countries struggle to cope with the HIV/AIDS crisis and with extreme poverty, they must spend millions more on debt repayments than on their own urgent priorities.
- Topic:
- Debt, Economics, Human Rights, and Human Welfare
- Political Geography:
- Africa
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