6. What do countries have to do to get cancellation?

There are lots of harmful, undemocratic and irrelevant conditions attached to debt cancellation - we want these strings to be cut.

Poor countries are told that, for instance, they have to cut back public spending or privatise basic industries in order to get debt relief. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank impose these conditions.

The conditions are totally undemocratic: they take important decisions about how to run a country away from its government, parliament and people, and instead impose plans decided by unaccountable external bodies.

They have also often proved extremely damaging to poor countries – particularly the poorest people in them. Independent economists and organisations like the United Nations Development Programme condemn them.

They also mean that much-needed debt relief is delayed for many years while countries struggle to meet the targets set by creditors.

Our partners in indebted countries want the only conditions for debt cancellation to relate to guaranteeing accountable and transparent use of funds. Jubilee Debt Campaign is calling for an end to all other conditions through our Cut the Strings campaign.

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