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Commonwealth Secretariat press release

Commonwealth hosts first review meeting on the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Debt Initiative

26 February 1999

The Commonwealth Secretariat in association with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund will host the first of a series of consultations on the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Debt Initiative on Friday, 5 March 1999 at Marlborough House in London. High Commissioners of Commonwealth HIPCs, senior UK academics and government officials, and organisations such as the Jubilee 2000 Coalition, Oxfam and others are expected to attend.

"The meeting will be the first opportunity in the UK for representatives of civil society, governments, academics, religious groups, non-governmental organisations and others, dedicated to the complex challenge of poverty reduction and human development, to discuss the pertinent issues regarding the HIPC Initiative," says Commonwealth Secretary-General Chief Emeka Anyaoku.

"The Commonwealth has played an active role in the various processes involved in the launching and implementation of the initiative and this meeting reinforces our interest in ensuring that the programme's objectives are achieved rapidly."

Initially, 41 countries were classified as HIPCs including 10 Commonwealth members. After more than two years, however, only 10 countries have been deemed eligible. Of these, eight (Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea Bissau, Mali, and Commonwealth members Guyana, Mozambique and Uganda) have qualified for debt-relief packages and only two, Uganda and Bolivia, have received actual relief.

The first UK consultation will consider specifically:

Speeding up the process, to ensure that all 41 HIPCs know the extent of relief by 2000, including those countries for whom early preliminary analysis had declared their debts sustainable.
Re-assessing the initiative to determine whether the basis for determining debt sustainability can be broadened, with particular attention to both external and domestic viability and vulnerability of the HIPCs.
Re-assessing the resource requirements of the initiative, consistent with an effective 'exit strategy', while ensuring more equitable burden-sharing
Integrating poverty and development factors more explicitly into the HIPC framework..
The Commonwealth Secretariat has also been assisting member countries to develop capacity in good debt management practices, including debt sustainability analysis through the use of the Commonwealth Secretariat's Debt Recording and Management System (CS-DRMS), now in use in about 50 countries.

Note to Editors:
At the Commonwealth Finance Ministers Meeting in 1997, UK Chancellor Gordon Brown proposed the Mauritius Mandate to enable all HIPCs to have embarked, by the year 2000, on the process of securing a sustainable exit from their debt problems. It also aimed by the millennium to have firm decisions on the amounts and terms of debt relief for at least three-quarters of eligible poor countries. At their meeting in Ottawa last year, Commonwealth Finance Ministers also asked for a comprehensive review of the HIPC Initiative.

At their recent meeting in Bonn, G-7 Ministers of Finance and Central Bank Governors also reiterated their continuing view that maximum progress should be made in implementing HIPC Initiative next year. They further stressed the importance of improving the HIPC Initiative, including fair burden-sharing among creditors and sufficient funding for multilateral creditors, and agreed to discuss these issues with a view to reaching agreement by the time of the Koln summit.

Issued by the Information and Public Affairs Division, Commonwealth Secretariat,
Marlborough House,
Pall Mall,
London SW1Y 5HX,
United Kingdom.
Tel: 0207-839 3411;
Fax: 0207-839 9081;
Telex: 27678


99/14 26 February 1999

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ISSUED BY THE COMMUNICATIONS AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS DIVISION
Commonwealth Secretariat Marlborough House Pall Mall London SW1Y 5HX United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)20 7747 6385/6 Fax: +44 (0)20 7839 9081
Email: info@commonwealth.int