Managing Third World debt

The report findings highlight that the largest debtors are in Latin America whereas for thepoorerAfrican countries, the debt burden is untrackable.

Latin American countries mainly owemoney to banks while African nations principally are endebted to governments and multilateral organisations. The leading creditor, the US, has determined policies for debt managment but many countries even struggle to pay interest.

Therefore, an innovative approach is required which extends beyond narrow financial solutions and shares the burden between the debtor countries, the banks and the creditor governments. Furthermore, some write-offs will be needed.

The UK government should propose a new approach to the United Nations to establish a new international consensus.