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London Agreement on German External Debts

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Debt relief or debt cancellation is the partial or total forgiveness of debt , or the slowing or stopping of debt growth, owed by individuals, corporations, or nations.

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72-623: The London Agreement on German External Debts , also known as the London Debt Agreement (German: Londoner Schuldenabkommen ), was a debt relief treaty between the Federal Republic of Germany and creditor nations. The Agreement was signed in London on 27 February 1953, and came into force on 16 September 1953. On 24 May 1951, the US and UK Departments of Foreign Affairs respectively, informed

144-514: A Poverty Reduction Strategy satisfactorily for at least one year. Under the goal of reducing inflation, some countries have been pressured to reduce spending in the health and education sectors. While the World Bank considers the HIPC Initiative a success, some scholars are more critical of it. The Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) is an extension of HIPC. The MDRI was agreed following

216-399: A "different view". The first written evidence of compound interest dates roughly 2400 BC. The annual interest rate was roughly 20%. Compound interest was necessary for the development of agriculture and important for urbanization. While the traditional Middle Eastern views on interest were the result of the urbanized, economically developed character of the societies that produced them,

288-520: A broad based Agreement as it settled just about every kind of German debt arising from the period before and after the Second World War. The total under negotiation was 16 billion marks of debt resulting from the Treaty of Versailles after World War I which had not been paid in the 1930s, but which Germany decided to repay to restore its reputation. This money was owed to government and private banks in

360-498: A concept is unknown, though its use in Sumeria argue that it was well established as a concept by 3000BC if not earlier, with historians believing that the concept in its modern sense may have arisen from the lease of animal or seeds for productive purposes. The argument that acquired seeds and animals could reproduce themselves was used to justify interest, but ancient Jewish religious prohibitions against usury (נשך NeSheKh ) represented

432-424: A conflict between debtor farmers and creditor bankers. A 2024 study found that debt relief for debtors leads to a large increase in earned income, employment, assets, real estate, secured debt, home ownership, and wealth over subsequent decades. Another 2024 study found that debtors who receive debt relief are more likely to support incumbent governments. Debt relief plays a significant role in some artworks. In

504-416: A creditor initiates this. As part of debt restructuring , the terms of the debt are modified, which may involve the debt owed being reduced. In case the debtor chooses bankruptcy despite being able to service the debt, this is called strategic bankruptcy . Certain debts can be defaulted on without a general bankruptcy; these are non-recourse loans , most notably mortgages in common law jurisdictions such as

576-424: A growth factor according to the periodic interest, and then decreases by the amount paid p at the end of each period: where By repeated substitution, one obtains expressions for B n , which are linearly proportional to B 0 and p , and use of the formula for the partial sum of a geometric series results in A solution of this expression for p in terms of B 0 and B n reduces to To find

648-591: A lot easier and reducing their negative effects on the economy. Debts covered by the Agreement were almost paid off during the 1970s. Germany continued to pay the fixed amount until the last payment was settled in 1983. Part of the agreement concerned debts to be paid after the reunification of Germany . For many decades this seemed unlikely to transpire, but in 1990 Deutsche Mark 239.4 million in deferred interest became due. These claims were repaid by means of "Fundierungsschuldverschreibungen" (Funding Debt Securities) with

720-515: A maturity of 20 years. On 3 October 2010 the final payment of €69.9 million was made on these bonds, the last payment by Germany on known debts from both world wars. The negotiations started with the Allies creating a Commission. The Commission's key role was to determine the types of debts that would be addressed by the London Agreement. During the process, the two sides negotiated the terms of

792-608: A number of ancient societies: If the debtor is in difficulty, grant him time till it is easy for him to repay. But, if ye remit it by way of charity, that is best for you if ye only knew. In the United States, the first serious movements to create debt relief were rooted in debtor farmer grievances against creditors. In the early 19th century, legislators created pathways for indebted farmers to take creditors to court to erase what they owed and enable them to start over. The first federal bankruptcy law, passed in 1841 and repealed in 1843,

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864-447: A particular rate decided beforehand, rather on a pro rata basis as a share in the reward gained by risk taking entrepreneurs when the revenue earned exceeds the total costs. For example, a customer would usually pay interest to borrow from a bank, so they pay the bank an amount which is more than the amount they borrowed; or a customer may earn interest on their savings, and so they may withdraw more than they originally deposited. In

936-444: Is based ), the climactic event is the destruction of credit card records, dramatized as the destruction of skyscrapers, which allows for debt relief. The television series Mr. Robot (2015–2019), follows a group of hackers whose main mission is to cancel all debts by taking down one of the largest corporations in the world, E Corp. Interest This is an accepted version of this page In finance and economics , interest

1008-407: Is calculated only on the principal amount, or on that portion of the principal amount that remains. It excludes the effect of compounding . Simple interest can be applied over a time period other than a year, for example, every month. Simple interest is calculated according to the following formula: where For example, imagine that a credit card holder has an outstanding balance of $ 2500 and that

1080-416: Is equal to the interest amount paid or received over a particular period divided by the principal sum borrowed or lent (usually expressed as a percentage). Compound interest means that interest is earned on prior interest in addition to the principal. Due to compounding, the total amount of debt grows exponentially, and its mathematical study led to the discovery of the number e . In practice, interest

1152-403: Is most often calculated on a daily, monthly, or yearly basis, and its impact is influenced greatly by its compounding rate. Credit is thought to have preceded the existence of coinage by several thousands of years. The first recorded instance of credit is a collection of old Sumerian documents from 3000 BC that show systematic use of credit to loan both grain and metals. The rise of interest as

1224-425: Is payment from a debtor or deposit-taking financial institution to a lender or depositor of an amount above repayment of the principal sum (that is, the amount borrowed), at a particular rate. It is distinct from a fee which the borrower may pay to the lender or some third party. It is also distinct from dividend which is paid by a company to its shareholders (owners) from its profit or reserve , but not at

1296-409: Is prohibited, as well as making money out of money is unacceptable. All financial transactions must be asset-backed and must not charge any interest or fee for the service of lending. It is thought that Jacob Bernoulli discovered the mathematical constant e by studying a question about compound interest . He realized that if an account that starts with $ 1.00 and pays say 100% interest per year, at

1368-621: Is today considered a form of "modern day slavery " in international law, and banned as such, in Article 1(a) of the United Nations 1956 Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery . Nevertheless, the practice continues in some nations. In most developed nations, debts cannot be inherited. Debtors' prison has been largely abolished, but remains in some forms in the US, for example if one fails to make child support payments. In modern times,

1440-458: The Allied Countries involved in the settlement, about a new arrangement regarding Germany's External Debts. The content of the dispatch made the main points of discussion clear from the start. The dispatch contained the following texts. "4. The three Governments, in order to make an overall settlement of German debts possible, are prepared to modify the priority of their claims in respect of

1512-743: The G8 's Gleneagles meeting in July 2005. It offers 100% cancellation of multilateral debts owed by HIPC countries to the World Bank , IMF and African Development Bank . One of the targets of the UN Sustainable Development Goals , specifically Goal 17 , is to "assist developing countries in attaining long-term debt sustainability through coordinated policies aimed at fostering debt financing, debt relief and debt restructuring ". This will help poor countries "reduce debt distress". Debt relief existed in

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1584-510: The Latin American debt crisis (Mexico 1983, etc.). In the early 21st century, it is of increased applicability to individuals in developed countries, due to credit bubbles and housing bubbles . War debt payments by World War I Allies to the U.S. had been suspended in 1931—only Finland paid in full—and American public opinion demanded repayments resume as a condition of U.S. postwar aid. Germany had suspended its reparations payments due under

1656-564: The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 provides that debt forgiven on a primary residence is not treated as income, for debts forgiven in the three-year period 2007–2009. The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 extended this by three years to the six-year period 2007–2012. The primary mechanism of debt relief in modern societies is bankruptcy , where a debtor who cannot or chooses not to pay their debts files for bankruptcy and renegotiates their debts, or

1728-745: The Netherlands , the United Kingdom, and Switzerland. The Agreement covered loans arising from external investments due to the Dawes Plan , and loans from economic aid to Germany. The support was provided by two major programs, the GARIOA and the Marshall Plan . Debts that would be settled by different arrangements were excluded from the London Agreement. Claims arising by countries damaged by Germany during World War II were not included. The debts to be settled by

1800-564: The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland , the United States of America , and Yugoslavia . The states of the Eastern Bloc were not involved. Some amounts owed by Germany arose from its efforts to pay war reparations, and others were associated with large scale loans by the United States. In total, 80 percent of Germany’s external obligations were owed to the United States,

1872-580: The United States . Choosing to default on such a loan despite being able to service it is called strategic default . If a debt cannot be or is not repaid, alternatives that were common historically but are now rare include debt bondage —including debt peonage : being bound until the debt is repaid; and debt slavery , when the debt is so great (or labor valued so low) that the debt will never be repaid—and debtors' prison . Debt slavery can persist across generations, future generations being made to work to pay off debts incurred by past generations. Debt bondage

1944-571: The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund . Another study has shown that the London Agreement can be associated with a "rise in real per capita social expenditure in health, education, housing, and economic development". The stabilization of inflation was a major benefit for the German economy . West Germany's new currency, the Deutsche Mark , was highly unstable until 1953. After

2016-527: The theory of fructification . By applying an opportunity cost argument, comparing the loan rate with the rate of return on agricultural land, and a mathematical argument, applying the formula for the value of a perpetuity to a plantation, he argued that the land value would rise without limit, as the interest rate approached zero. For the land value to remain positive and finite keeps the interest rate above zero. Adam Smith , Carl Menger , and Frédéric Bastiat also propounded theories of interest rates. In

2088-408: The $ 6 per year after only 6 months ( time preference ), and so has the opportunity to reinvest the first $ 3 coupon payment after the first 6 months, and earn additional interest. For example, suppose an investor buys $ 10,000 par value of a US dollar bond, which pays coupons twice a year, and that the bond's simple annual coupon rate is 6 percent per year. This means that every 6 months, the issuer pays

2160-423: The 1919 Versailles Treaty and payable to Britain, France and others, as well as loans due to the United States. Chancellor Konrad Adenauer decided that permanent good will required their resumption. The 1953 Agreement on German External Debts , which resumed German's war reparations , is a notable example of international debt relief. Debt relief for heavily indebted and underdeveloped developing countries

2232-523: The Agreement “as equals”. The first conference was held in Bonn, in June 1951. The next conference was held in London in July 1951. In February 1952 another conference occurred. This was the most essential moment of the entire negotiation process. The total amounts of debts and the compensations’ deadlines were the main topic of conversation. Germany’s negotiating skills played a huge role in the settlements’ outcome. In

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2304-573: The Allies, Adenauer informed them about Germany’s desire to repay its debts. The Conference on German External Debts (also known as the London Debt Conference) was held between 28 February and 28 August 1952. The Agreement reached at the Conference was signed in London on 27 February 1953. The Agreement was ratified by the United States, France, and United Kingdom on 16 September 1953, at which point

2376-546: The FTC. As the disposition of personal debt is a highly regulated industry, consumers are urged by the FTC and other trade organizations to do significant research and find an independent credit counselor to guide them through the process. In 2019, the Texas Legislature forgave an estimated $ 2.5 billion in debt when it abolished its "Driver Responsibility Surcharge" in all but driving while intoxicated (DWI) cases. This surcharge

2448-511: The Legislature eliminated red-light cameras statewide and effectively canceled those debts, and re-defined "undue hardship" in the Code of Criminal Procedure to allow judges to waive traffic-fine debt for more people. In US tax law , debt forgiven is treated as income, as it reduces a liability, increasing the taxpayer's net worth . In the context of the bursting of the United States housing bubble ,

2520-424: The London Agreement included; The Agreement was based on three important conditions. Firstly, the total amount that Germany was obligated to pay would be greatly reduced. The repayments’ timeframe should be stretched long enough in order to help Germany’s economy grow. Last but not least, the total that was supposed to be paid per year was associated with Germany’s “ability to make transfers ”. It can be described as

2592-592: The London Conference and despite the presence of an Arbitral tribunal . Debt relief From antiquity through the 19th century, it refers to domestic debts, in particular agricultural debts and freeing of debt slaves. In World War I the United States Treasury made large loans to the Allies that were postponed, reduced and finally paid off in 1953. In the late 20th century, it came to refer primarily to Third World debt , which started exploding with

2664-457: The U.S., France, and Britain. Another 16 billion marks represented postwar loans by the U.S. According to several commentators, the total of debts arising before World War II were 16.1 billion marks, while debts after the War were calculated to be 16.2 billion marks. Under the London Agreement, the repayable amount was reduced by 50% to about 15 billion marks and stretched out over 30 years, and compared to

2736-561: The agreement came into force. The Agreement was firstly turned down by the Bundestag and then approved on a following vote. The parties that were involved besides West Germany included Belgium , Canada , Ceylon , Denmark , France , Greece , Iran , the Republic of Ireland , Italy , Liechtenstein , Luxembourg , Norway , Pakistan , Spain , Sweden , Switzerland , the Union of South Africa ,

2808-463: The appearance of appropriate conditions for entrepreneurs to start new, lucrative businesses. Given that borrowed money was no longer strictly for consumption but for production as well, interest was no longer viewed in the same manner. The first attempt to control interest rates through manipulation of the money supply was made by the Banque de France in 1847. The latter half of the 20th century saw

2880-530: The benefit to the borrower, and interest received by the lender in terms of a premium for the risk of default . In the sixteenth century, Martín de Azpilcueta applied a time preference argument: it is preferable to receive a given good now rather than in the future. Accordingly, interest is compensation for the time the lender forgoes the benefit of spending the money. On the question of why interest rates are normally greater than zero, in 1770, French economist Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot, Baron de Laune proposed

2952-434: The case of savings, the customer is the lender, and the bank plays the role of the borrower. Interest differs from profit , in that interest is received by a lender, whereas profit is received by the owner of an asset , investment or enterprise . (Interest may be part or the whole of the profit on an investment , but the two concepts are distinct from each other from an accounting perspective.) The rate of interest

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3024-450: The debt, either in full or in part. The first method is declaring bankruptcy, which has the immediate effect of stopping any payments made to creditors. In the United States, the two primary avenues of bankruptcy for an individual are Chapter 13 bankruptcy and Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Another option is to consolidate these debts into a single loan, commonly known as debt consolidation . Debt relief, on an individual level, refers mainly to

3096-401: The end of the year, the value is $ 2.00; but if the interest is computed and added twice in the year, the $ 1 is multiplied by 1.5 twice, yielding $ 1.00×1.5  = $ 2.25. Bernoulli noticed that if the frequency of compounding is increased without limit, this sequence can be modeled as follows: where n is the number of times the interest is to be compounded in a year. In economics,

3168-470: The fast-growing German economy were of minor impact. An important term of the agreement was that repayments were only due while West Germany ran a trade surplus, and that repayments were limited to 3% of export earnings. The amounts set by the Agreement were meant to be paid by the profit resulting from German exports, not from stockpile or new loaned amounts. This gave Germany's creditors a powerful incentive to import German goods, assisting reconstruction. After

3240-403: The holder of the bond a coupon of 3 dollars per 100 dollars par value. At the end of 6 months, the issuer pays the holder: Assuming the market price of the bond is 100, so it is trading at par value, suppose further that the holder immediately reinvests the coupon by spending it on another $ 300 par value of the bond. In total, the investor therefore now holds: and so earns a coupon at the end of

3312-678: The last parts of negotiations, some “intergovernmental debts” were settled and “detailed technical reports” were produced that were included in the London Agreement. The agreement significantly contributed to the growth of the post-war German economy and re-emergence of Germany as a world economic power. A 2018 study in the European Review of Economic History showed that the London Agreement "spurred economic growth in three main ways: creating fiscal space for public investment; lowering costs of borrowing; and stabilising inflation." It allowed Germany to enter international economic institutions such as

3384-478: The late 19th century, Swedish economist Knut Wicksell in his 1898 Interest and Prices elaborated a comprehensive theory of economic crises based upon a distinction between natural and nominal interest rates . In the 1930s, Wicksell's approach was refined by Bertil Ohlin and Dennis Robertson and became known as the loanable funds theory. Other notable interest rate theories of the period are those of Irving Fisher and John Maynard Keynes . Simple interest

3456-438: The most common alternatives to debt relief in cases where debt cannot be paid are forbearance and debt restructuring . Forbearance meaning that interest payments (possibly including past due ones) are forgiven, so long as payments resume. No reduction of principal occurs, however. In debt restructuring, an existing debt is replaced with a new debt. This may result in reduction of the principal (debt relief), or may simply change

3528-417: The nearest cent.) Compound interest includes interest earned on the interest that was previously accumulated. Compare, for example, a bond paying 6 percent semiannually (that is, coupons of 3 percent twice a year) with a certificate of deposit ( GIC ) that pays 6 percent interest once a year. The total interest payment is $ 6 per $ 100 par value in both cases, but the holder of the semiannual bond receives half

3600-401: The negotiation for a reduction of a debt by either the consumer or a debt settlement agency. Through this arrangement, consumers agree to pay the creditor a fixed amount of money (generally a discount on their outstanding debt) either in a lump sum or under a payment plan. The debt settlement industry has had significant regulatory scrutiny since its inception with changes implemented in 2010 by

3672-503: The new Jewish prohibition on interest showed a pastoral, tribal influence. In the early 2nd millennium BC, since silver used in exchange for livestock or grain could not multiply of its own, the Laws of Eshnunna instituted a legal interest rate, specifically on deposits of dowry . Early Muslims called this riba , translated today as the charging of interest. The First Council of Nicaea , in 325, forbade clergy from engaging in usury which

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3744-445: The next 6 months of: Assuming the bond remains priced at par, the investor accumulates at the end of a full 12 months a total value of: and the investor earned in total: The formula for the annual equivalent compound interest rate is: where For example, in the case of a 6% simple annual rate, the annual equivalent compound rate is: The outstanding balance B n of a loan after n regular payments increases each period by

3816-511: The non-housing personal debt market and ease with which one can obtain personal credit has led to some consumers falling behind on payments. As of Q3 2017, student loans have the highest rates of serious delinquency (90 or more days delinquent) with approximately 9.6% of all student loan debt falling into this bucket. Credit card debt and auto loan debt have serious delinquency rates of 4.6% and 2.4% respectively. When consumers begin to fall behind on payments, they have several options to discharge

3888-406: The payment if the loan is to be finished in n payments, one sets  B n  = 0. The PMT function found in spreadsheet programs can be used to calculate the monthly payment of a loan: An interest-only payment on the current balance would be The total interest, I T , paid on the loan is The formulas for a regular savings program are similar, but the payments are added to

3960-401: The play The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare , c.  1598 , the heroine pleads for debt relief (forgiveness) on grounds of Christian mercy . In the 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz , a primary political interpretation is that it treats free silver , which engenders inflation and hence reduces debts. In the 1999 film Fight Club (but not the novel on which it

4032-471: The post-war economic assistance which they furnished to Germany, on condition that the settlement plan is acceptable to them." "5. The arrangements contemplated relate to Germany's pre-war public and private indebtedness and to the German debt arising out of post-war economic assistance; they do not relate to claims arising out of the war which can only be dealt with in connexion with a peace treaty." In response to

4104-500: The rate of interest is the price of credit , and it plays the role of the cost of capital . In a free market economy, interest rates are subject to the law of supply and demand of the money supply , and one explanation of the tendency of interest rates to be generally greater than zero is the scarcity of loanable funds . Over centuries, various schools of thought have developed explanations of interest and interest rates. The School of Salamanca justified paying interest in terms of

4176-447: The reduction in the nominal value of currency, reduces the real value of debts. While lenders take inflation into account when they decide the terms of a loan, unexpected increases in the rate of inflation cause categorical debt relief. Inflation has been a contentious political issue on this basis, with debasement of currency a form of or alternative to sovereign default , and the free silver in late 19th century America being seen as

4248-436: The rise of interest-free Islamic banking and finance , a movement that applies Islamic law to financial institutions and the economy. Some countries, including Iran, Sudan, and Pakistan, have taken steps to eradicate interest from their financial systems. Rather than charging interest, the interest-free lender shares the risk by investing as a partner in profit loss sharing scheme, because predetermined loan repayment as interest

4320-631: The same reason, interest has often been looked down upon in Islamic civilization , with almost all scholars agreeing that the Qur'an explicitly forbids charging interest. Medieval jurists developed several financial instruments to encourage responsible lending and circumvent prohibitions on usury, such as the Contractum trinius . In the Renaissance era, greater mobility of people facilitated an increase in commerce and

4392-532: The settlement came into force, for the next five years, until 1958, Germany had to pay only debts arising from unpaid interest . This is another example of attempts made to help Germany’s economy grow before starting to pay the owed amounts. This way, the Allies also acknowledged the willingness of Germany to compensate Israel . After the five-year mark, Germany was under obligation to pay a fixed amount of 765 million Marks per year. As time went by Germany’s exports increased significantly, making fulfilment of payments

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4464-403: The signing of the agreement, it stabilized due to the debt relief. The transition of West Germany from a debtor to a creditor by the middle of the 1950s had an impact on Germany's economic growth as well. The agreement's outcome can be described as a German economic miracle. Germany achieved all of the above, despite being obligated to pay the total amount of war reparations (with interest) prior to

4536-490: The simple annual interest rate is 12.99% per annum , applied monthly, so the frequency of applying interest is 12 per year. Over one month, interest is due (rounded to the nearest cent). Simple interest applied over 3 months would be If the card holder pays off only interest at the end of each of the 3 months, the total amount of interest paid would be which is the simple interest applied over 3 months, as calculated above. (The one cent difference arises due to rounding to

4608-582: The start of 2003 to a peak of $ 2.71 trillion in Q4 of 2008. It was not until Q3 of 2012 that unsecured personal debt reached this level again. Since that time, unsecured personal debt has risen steadily to $ 3.76 trillion at the end of the third quarter of 2017. The other large change in unsecured personal debt is that an increasing portion of it is now student loan debt, from 12% in Q1 of 2003 to 53% in Q3 of 2017. The increasing size of

4680-419: The terms of repayment, for instance by extending the term (replacing a debt repaid over 5 years with one repaid over 10 years), which allows the same principal to be amortized over a longer period, thus allowing smaller payments. Personal debt that can be repaid from income but is not being repaid may be obtained via garnishment or attachment of earnings , which deduct debt service from wages . Inflation,

4752-465: The thing and the use of the thing. In the medieval economy , loans were entirely a consequence of necessity (bad harvests, fire in a workplace) and, under those conditions, it was considered morally reproachable to charge interest. It was also considered morally dubious, since no goods were produced through the lending of money, and thus it should not be compensated, unlike other activities with direct physical output such as blacksmithing or farming. For

4824-732: Was an extra three-year civil penalty added onto certain criminal traffic infractions like DWI or driving without a license or insurance. Surcharges were created in 2003 to pay for a roadway network that was never built, and instead half the money was diverted to hospitals, which became reliant on the money, with the rest going into the state treasury. However, the majority of drivers who had surcharges assessed could not pay them. Many people who could not afford either surcharges or insurance continued to drive and racked up huge sums in debt they could never expect to pay. A little-advertised amnesty program and an indigence program that still required partial payment helped some, and were criticized by some who felt it

4896-574: Was defined as lending on interest above 1 percent per month (12.7% AER ). Ninth-century ecumenical councils applied this regulation to the laity . Catholic Church opposition to interest hardened in the era of the Scholastics , when even defending it was considered a heresy . St. Thomas Aquinas , the leading theologian of the Catholic Church , argued that the charging of interest is wrong because it amounts to " double charging ", charging for both

4968-418: Was re-introduced and expanded in 1867. At the time, this was a comparatively radical approach to debt relief in the world, making the United States one of the most debtor-friendly countries. In the United States of America for the years preceding the financial crisis of 2007–2008 , non-housing personal debt (auto loans, credit cards, student loans, etc.) rose significantly from approximately $ 2.05 trillion at

5040-531: Was the subject in the 1990s of a campaign by a broad coalition of development NGOs , Christian organizations and others, under the banner of Jubilee 2000 . This campaign, involving, for example, demonstrations at the 1998 G8 meeting in Birmingham , was successful in pushing debt relief onto the agenda of Western governments and international organizations such as the International Monetary Fund and World Bank . The Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative

5112-557: Was ultimately launched to provide systematic debt relief for the poorest countries, whilst trying to ensure the money would be spent on poverty reduction . The HIPC programme has been subject to conditionalities similar to those often attached to International Monetary Fund ( IMF ) and World Bank loans, requiring structural adjustment reforms, sometimes including the privatisation of public utilities , including water and electricity. To qualify for irrevocable debt relief, countries must also maintain macroeconomic stability and implement

5184-452: Was unfair that they paid and others didn't. But local sheriffs began to complain that the law was causing the jails to fill up with people driving on suspended license, and the judiciary insisted the law was unfair and counterproductive to public safety. Finally, in 2019, the Legislature found different sources to fund hospitals and eliminated the surcharge, along with around $ 2.5 billion in debt owed by around 1.4 million people. The same year,

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