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Episcopal Church urges further debt cancellation for poorest countries
2002-097-2
4/18/2002
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[Episcopal News Service]
The Office of Government Relations of the Episcopal Church hailed the introduction of bipartisan legislation in the House and Senate on April 18 to deepen debt relief for the world's poorest countries. The bill, known as the 'Debt Relief Enhancement Act of 2002,' is sponsored by Senators Joseph Biden, Jr.(D-DE)and Rick Santorum, (R-PA) and Congressmen Chris Smith (R-NJ) and John J. LaFalce (D-NY).
'Poor countries shouldn't be sending their scarce resources to the richest countries and institutions in the world - they should be allowed to invest in their people, in health, in education,' said Tom Hart, director of government relations for the Episcopal Church. 'Leaders in Congress are once again reaching across party lines to help the world's needy people with substantial debt relief.'
The legislation calls for doubling the amount of annual debt service relief to the 26 heavily indebted poor countries (HIPCs) that have qualified so far for the Enhanced HIPC Initiative. Currently, the Enhanced HIPC program has cut annual debt service payments for 26 countries from $3 billion to $2 billion per year. This legislation would cut an additional $1 billion per year in debt service.
'This is a strong complement to the Administration's grants-loans proposal,' Hart said. 'Grants and deeper debt relief are two solutions to the same problem - the poorest countries can't and shouldn't sustain heavy debt burdens. We should remedy the HIPCs' debt crisis like any bankruptcy. We should write off their debts, then help them avoid getting back into debt by providing grants. It's the only sensible long-term solution.'
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