Debt

Question 1

Philippines

Answer 1

19% GDP

Question 2

Iceland

Answer 2

332% GDP

Question 3

Debt crisis

Answer 3

From the 1970s onwards, as a result of borrowing money from banks in the developed world, developing countries (particularly LDCs) found themselves in a debt crisis.

Question 4

What worsened the debt crisis

Answer 4

Increasing oil prices in the 1970s, higher interest rates in the 1980s, falling export prices and problems of domestic economic management

Question 5

What did the IMF and the world bank do in 1996

Answer 5

Produced the heavily indebted poor countries programme (HIPC)- provided debt relief and low interest loans to reduce external debt repayments to sustainable levels, on condition that countries met targets.

Question 6

What did G8 countries do in 2005

Answer 6

Proposed to cancel the entire debt of the eligible HIPCs under a scheme known as the multilateral debt relief initiative (MDRI)

Question 7

What did the countries have to meet to be accepted under the MDRI scheme

Answer 7

• satisfactory economic performance
• progress in implementing a poverty reduction strategy
• adequate public expenditure management system

Question 8

Some goals of the UN Millennium Deceleration

Answer 8

• eradicate extreme hunger and poverty
• develop a global partnership for development
• ensure environmental sustainability

Question 9

What are some of the UN Millennium goals that have been met

Answer 9

• halving people’s income who is less than $1 a day

- halving the proportion of people without access to sanitation