The Case Of Haiti After �Further Corruption Of Imf And The World Bank’

The Case of Haiti after �Further Corruption of IMF and the World Bank’

Why should the debt be cancelled?

This money was used to prop up a corrupt and oppressive regime and should not now be repaid at the expense of those who have already suffered at the hands of this regime. The Haitian people should not have to pay for the crimes of their past leaders. Not only did these loans fail to benefit the Haitian people, the consequent debt service payments continue to cost the country millions of dollars that could be better spent on education and health. For example, less than one quarter of children aged between six and 12 living in rural areas are enrolled in school. Haiti is one of the countries worst affected by the recent huge increase in food prices, which has led to riots and social unrest.

Debt cancellation denied

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. But Haiti was not considered for debt relief when the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative (HIPC) was first launched in 1996 as the international process to grant debt relief and cancellation. In 1998, Claire Short, then UK Secretary of State for International Development, said that Haiti should be included in HIPC as an "exceptional case". In 2005, the World Bank stated that Haiti seemed to be committed to poverty reduction and tackling corruption and therefore could be "potentially eligible" for the HIPC scheme.

Debt cancellation to come?

In October 2006, Haiti was finally allowed to enter HIPC. However, campaigners argue that HIPC is not the right route to debt cancellation, for Haiti or any other country. Haiti has been told that when it finally completes HIPC, it will be eligible for cancellation of around $716 million of its total debt of $1.3 billion. (This