(January 15, 2004) Forbidding an illegal government from having debts is a strategy more successful than sanctions, since it prevents it from using money in oppressing the citizens of the country.
AMF seeks payment of massive debt from Iraq
(January 15, 2004) The Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) said yesterday it would try to help in the reconstruction of Iraq but stressed the conflict-hit country must pay its swelling debt which caused its suspension from the Fund 12 years ago.
U.S. officials consult IMF on Iraq debt
(January 15, 2004) John Snow and James A. Baker III briefed International Monetary Fund and World Bank officials on Baker’s efforts to persuade countries to forgive much of Iraq’s massive debt, officials at the lending institutions said Thursday.
Ease off on Iraq debt, finance ministers asks states
(January 13, 2004) Iraq’s finance minister on Tuesday urged countries to which Iraq owes billions of dollars to write down or even write off the debt to allow the country to recover from three wars and three decades of dictatorship.
Baker backed loans that created Iraq debt
(January 11, 2004) As secretary of state in 1989, Baker urged the Agriculture Department to offer $1 billion in loan guarantees for Iraq to buy U.S. farm products after Iraq said it would reject a smaller deal.
U.S. turns attention to Arabs’ Iraq debt
(January 5, 2004) Under Saddam Hussein, Iraq called on its Arab neighbors to help supply and pay for arms for the war effort. Baghdad later insisted that the aid was in the form of grants, not loans, and therefore repayment was not required.
Czechs ready to write off one third of Iraq’s 157-million-dollar debt
(January 5, 2004) It is in our interest to help Iraq so the situation there stabilizes. Unless it does so, we will not see a single koruna," Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla said.
World finance officials to meet next month
(January 5, 2004) What to do about Iraq’s massive debt is expected to be a top discussion topic next month when top finance officials of the world’s seven richest industrial countries meet in Boca Raton, Fla.
Expert who refused to sign off on Three Gorges
(January 9, 2004) Journalist Dai Qing interviews Guo Laixi, an eminent geographer who took part in the Chinese feasibility study for the Three Gorges dam but became so alarmed about the project’s potential impacts that he refused to sign the study team’s final report.
Impoverished Haiti pins hopes for future on a very old debt
(January 2, 2004) The initial agreement between France and the young republic called on Haiti to pay the whole 150 million francs in five annual payments of 30 million gold francs. That proved impossible for Haiti.
Odious debt, odious future
(January 1, 2004) With such monumental repercussions we cannot turn a blind eye to Iraq’s (and other nations’) odious debt. The fallout from such self-centered actions could lead to an odious future far bleaker than last month’s overdue credit card bill.
US Probe Releases Kaijuka Case Files
(December 30, 2003) The US Justice Department has released files of the Bujagali bribery investigation.
China mulls cutting, writing off Iraq’s debts
(December 29, 2003) China will consider cutting Iraq’s debts or writing them off out of humanitarian concern, state radio quoted Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao as saying on Monday.
Japan to write off majority of Iraq debt
(December 29, 2003) Japan would be prepared to eliminate the vast majority of its Iraqi debt if other Paris Club creditors are prepared to do so in the context of a Paris Club agreement," said a statement by Japan’s Foreign Ministry.
The burden of odious debt
(December 27, 2003) Economists caution that a lot depends on how an "odious debt" is defined.
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