A gesture of desperation most likely because the debts and interest are unlikely to be repaid anyway. Now, what leverage will be exerted on lenders and the governments of these nations to change behavior so that this does not happen again? How will corruption be identified, prevented or punished? This story is short on those critical details.
"The deal on Saturday was expected to ease the 18 poorest countries' annual debt burden by $1.5 billion. They are Benin, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guyana, Honduras, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. All must take anticorruption measures.
Gordon Brown, the British chancellor of the Exchequer, asked at the news conference whether debt relief was also conditional on good government practices by the recipients, said part of the deal was for poor countries to use the money they saved on debt servicing for health, education or the relief of poverty."
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