Debt
Lifting the debt burden – freeing up money for reducing poverty in developing countries.
Debt management capacity building
It is important that countries are able to manage their debts well: Countries need to prove that they have the capacity to handle their debts in a responsible manner in order to benefit from debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative. Once debt relief has been provided, it is essential that countries also manage their borrowing well and do not accumulate debts that will be unsustainable in the future. This is why DFID supports the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries' Debt Strategy and Analysis Capacity Building Programme (HIPC CBP).
The aim of this programme is to:
- enable governments to develop their own capacity to design and implement national debt strategies;
- benefit from maximum debt relief under the HIPC initiative;
- maintain a high level of debt management, during and after the HIPC Initiative.
The HIPC CBP is demand driven by the beneficiary countries, which evaluate their own needs, and design their own capacity building programmes. Support is provided through a range of activities, including training workshops, missions to help with legal, institutional and technical issues, and a distance learning programme. Countries can also exchange best practices on debt strategy through inter-regional workshops and information products. The programme is implemented by Debt relief International and four regional partner organisations.
Impact of the programme
To date, the HIPC CBP has helped 32 countries to design their own independent debt strategy documents. The programme has also helped 29 countries to make important institutional reforms, resulting in more debt relief to finance poverty reduction.
For example, in 2004-05 the CBP helped Ethiopia, Niger, Rwanda and Zambia to negotiate “topping up” at completion point, increasing relief by US $1 billion. It also helped many governments to achieve more rapid debt relief, most recently Burundi which reached completion point in January 2009.
For further information on the Programme, please see:
www.hipc-cbp.org
Further information on debt:
School children in Rwanda. The HIPC CBP has helped Rwanda to negotiate a better debt deal.
Debt relief is at the heart of the support we need.
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf President of Liberia
