Why debt matters

The world's 52 poorest countries owe $300 billion in unpayable debt. Much of this is due to reckless lending and the corruption and waste of previous regimes. Governments and rich elites ran up these debts but it is their peoples, a billion of whom survive on less than $1 a day, who are paying the price. The United Nations estimate that 19,000 children die every day because of money spent on debt payment is not spent on meeting basic needs - like water, healthcare and education.

These debts matter because

It is immoral to continue taking payments

poor countries receiving debt relief spend more on debt than on healthcare, even as HIV/Aids wipes out a generation in Africa and beyond

debt means the poor subsidise the rich - Nigerians will pay back £5 for every £1 borrowed

much of the debt is the result of corrupt and unethical lending - to dictators, Apartheid regimes, and to wasteful projects that benefited Western firms but not the poor

a consequence of the debt crisis is that poor countries are experiencing a modern form of slavery, in which they are forced to satisfy the desires of the richest states regardless of the consequences for their people.

They can never be paid anyway

unlike individuals, there is no international law of bankruptcy to draw a line under poor countries' debts.

interest rates and currency devaluation mean that debts are growing faster than poor countries' ability to pay.

unfair conditions in the global economy, such as trade barriers and collapsing prices for poor country exports, have meant that even as countries work harder to pay their debts they are able to earn much less. The International Monetary Fund and World Bank, bodies which police the international finance system, have forced debtor nations to accept advice which makes these problem worse.

These debts are bad for us

countries facing destitution today cannot give priority to safeguarding the environment. Deforestation adds to global warming, and heavily indebted countries are chopping down their forests the fastest.
countries with heavy debts have little money to buy goods produced in Western countries.

debt drives down wages and removes safeguards for workers in poor countries. Jobs in rich countries are lost as a result.

debt can make it impossible for people in poor countries to survive by legal means, making production of illegal narcotics for export to the West a necessity.
commercial banks have suffered little from the debt crisis. This is partly because Western taxpayers have helped to bail them out.

debt creates poverty which in turn creates resentment against the rich. Post September 11th 2001, cancelling debts and ending poverty are vital to our security.

We can afford to cancel them
If the G7 countries (the elite of the richest states) were to fund the write off of the World Bank and IMF's debts from HIPC countries, it would effectively cost each of their citizens one dollar per year.