{
  "id": "RL33073",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "RL33073",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 325614,
      "date": "2006-04-18",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-07T19:05:05.103029",
      "title": "Debt Relief for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries: Issues for Congress",
      "summary": "In recent decades, the rapid growth in poor country debt has emerged as a key foreign policy\nconcern. Many analysts believe that this debt burden is an impediment to economic growth and\npoverty reduction. Others contend that for the poorest countries, other factors such as weak political\nand economic institutions, are a greater impediment to growth than the debt burden.\n There have been many efforts to help reduce poor country debt. In 1988 a group of major\ncreditor nations, known as the Paris Club, agreed for the first time to cancel debts owed to them\ninstead of refinancing them on easier terms as they had done previously. In 1996, the International\nMonetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and the regional development banks agreed to allow a\nportion of debts owed to them by a select group of countries to be cancelled. This effort is known\nas the Debt Relief Initiative for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC). In June 2005, the Group\nof Eight (G8) nations agreed to further deepen debt relief and proposed 100% cancellation of all\nmultilateral debt for countries that have finished the HIPC program. Several pieces of legislation\n( H.R. 1130  and  S. 1320 ) also have been introduced that could extend debt\nrelief to an even larger group of countries. As introduced, the G8 proposal raises four possible\nconcerns:\n    Scope of Debt Cancellation  -- The proposed agreement is limited to\nthe IMF,\nthe World Bank, and the African Development Bank. Several other development banks are major\ncreditors and are not included in the proposal.  \n    No Net New Assistance  -- The proposed agreement specifies that\nHIPC\ncountries that receive debt reduction will have their total assistance flows reduced by the amount of\ndebt forgiven. This money will then be reallocated among all low-income countries.   \n    Funding is Not Assured  -- The agreement promises that G8 countries\nwill\ncompensate the development banks for any debt relief they provide. However, future contributions\nto the development banks are not guaranteed.  \n    Future Commitments are Unspecified  -- The agreement commits G8\nmembers to cover the cost of debt relief for countries that may later enter the HIPC process. \nDepending on which, if any, countries are added, the potential cost of debt relief may rise\nsignificantly.   \n No congressional appropriations are required at this time to implement the G8 proposal. \nHowever, additional U.S. funds may need to be appropriated in the future to fund higher levels of\nHIPC debt relief.\n This report will no longer be updated. For information on the current status of the G8 debt\nrelief proposal, see  CRS Report RS22534 ,  The Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative , by\nMartin A.\nWeiss.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": false,
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      "topics": []
    }
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Appropriations",
    "Economic Policy",
    "Foreign Affairs"
  ]
}