Accra (Greater Accra) 17 June '99
Jubilee 2000, an international lobby group campaigning for debt relief for developing nations, said in Accra on Wednesday that Africa needs a complete debt wipe-out to break its poverty cycle.
At a press conference in Accra Wednesday, Mr Akoto Ampaw, National Co-ordinator of Jubilee 2000 Africampaign Ghana, said such a move will strengthen Africa's educational and health delivery.
The press conference is to add Ghana's voice to the global call for debt cancellation for the world's poor countries.
"We demand that the resources saved from debt cancellation be channelled into and used for human development, particularly in the fields of education and training, health care and housing."
Mr Ampaw noted that a partial debt cancellation framework has been initiated by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund for Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC).
"But it is not deep enough to lift the debt burden off Africa".
Africa's current external debt stock is estimated around 375 billion dollars, with annual servicing as a percentage to the continent's export earnings of about 35 per cent.
"The simple truth, which the peoples of Ghana, Africa and the rest of the developing world are crying out with their lives, is that the debt burden means desperate want, starvation, disease, illiteracy, political instability and human rights abuse."
Apart from the HIPC initiative, the Group of Seven meeting in Cologne, Germany, last week also proposed a 70 billion debt cancellation for poor nations, while Britain and the United States have agreed on 50 and 70 billion dollars cancellation respectively.
But, Jubilee 2000 said a total debt cancellation by the year 2000 without the conditionalities of the IMF and the World Bank is what Africa and other developing nations need.
GRi./
