Loose Ends

A briefing by Jubilee Debt Campaign and Jubilee USA highlighting the issues that need to be resolved at the annual meetings of the World Bank and IMF in September 2005 if the G8 debt deal is to be delivered.

Failure to deliver would be a betrayal of millions in the impoverished countries which stand to benefit, and millions of campaigners who called on the G8 to wipe out debt.

In June 2005 the G7 Finance Ministers met in London. The host, Gordon Brown, the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, emerged from the meetings to announce that an historic debt cancellation deal had been struck.

In July 2005 the G8 leaders met in Gleneagles, Scotland. This time the host was UK Prime Minister Tony Blair; he announced that the G8 had confirmed the debt deal of the previous month.

Jubilee USA and Jubilee Debt Campaign welcomed the deal as a critical first step on debt cancellation.

Both Gordon Brown and Tony Blair in the UK, and President Bush in the USA, have consistently summarised this deal as being the 100 per cent cancellation of the debts of the world’s poorest countries.

But in September 2005 it is clear that:

• No debt has yet been cancelled under this deal.
• The deal is not 100 per cent cancellation of the debt of the world’s poorest countries.
• There is serious concern that the deal may not be approved by the IMF and the World Bank this weekend.

This is a major political threat to the UK and US governments. Failure would seriously impact the Gleneagles agreement only weeks after it was signed; failure would see the hopes of millions of poor people dashed once again.

Download the full briefing (8 pages) using the link on the right.