Debt Relief for Low-Income Countries and the Hipc Initiative

29 Pages Posted: 15 Feb 2006

See all articles by Anthony Boote

Anthony Boote

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Kamau Thugge

International Monetary Fund (IMF) - Policy Development and Review Department

Date Written: March 1997

Abstract

The paper describes the debt burden of low-income countries and the traditional mechanisms that have been implemented by the international community to alleviate this burden. While these mechanisms are sufficient to reduce the external debts of many heavily indebted poor countries (HIPCs) to sustainable levels provided these countries implement sound economic policies, they are likely insufficient for a number of countries. To deal with these cases, the World Bank and the IMF have jointly proposed and implemented the HIPC Initiative. The paper describes this Initiative and suggests that it should enable HIPCs to exit from the debt rescheduling process.

Keywords: External Debt, Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative

JEL Classification: F34, F35, H63

Suggested Citation

Boote, Anthony and Thugge, Kamau, Debt Relief for Low-Income Countries and the Hipc Initiative (March 1997). IMF Working Paper No. 97/24, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=882255

Anthony Boote (Contact Author)

affiliation not provided to SSRN

No Address Available

Kamau Thugge

International Monetary Fund (IMF) - Policy Development and Review Department ( email )

700 19th St. NW
Washington, DC 20431
United States