Written Answers. - Third World Debt.
Kathleen Lynch
Question:
51
Kathleen Lynch
asked the
Minister for Finance
the conclusions, if any, reached at the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund regarding Third World debt and the growing trade imbalance between the developed and the developing world; Ireland's position in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[15235/95]
The joint annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, which took place in Washington DC from 10 to 12 October last, considered the major issues facing their member states and, in particular, the poorer and more heavily-indebted countries.
The question of debt was discussed at the Development and Interim Committee meetings immediately preceding the annual meetings and was also raised in the addresses of governors in the course of the annual meetings.
There was a broad consensus in the Development Committee, the Joint Ministerial Committee of the Boards of Governors of both organisations, that, while existing arrangements should be sufficient to bring debt and debt service for the majority of heavily-indebted countries down to manageable levels, the debt position of certain poorer countries may be unsustainable and that accordingly further measures should be explored to address their situation.
Likewise the Interim Committee of the Board of Governors of the International Monetary Fund expressed deep concern about the plight of a number of low-income countries. It called for the full and constructive implementation of the concessional "Naples" terms by the bilateral creditor countries and emphasised also the need to maintain sufficient flows of concessional assistance to low-income countries implementing strong adjustment and reform programmes.
The question of trade relationships between the developed and developing countries was not directly addressed at the annual meetings.
As Governor for Ireland, I welcomed the growing acceptance that the burden of debt may be a crippling constraint on the economic and social development of a number of very poor countries. I welcomed also the work in hand within the organsations with a view to finding ways to help pay part of the obligations owed to multilateral creditors by those countries where action by commercial and bilateral creditors is not sufficient to restore debt sustainability.
As I have no wish to see this problem "studied to death", I also called for matters to be advanced, at least by the next meetings of the committees to be held next spring, when I would hope that concrete proposals could be put forward on an agreed basis by both the institutions to deal effectively with the debt problem.
I also drew attention in my address to the institutions to the need to bear in mind that economic development is not an end in itself: the object of the institutions' efforts in this area must be to improve the well-being of the people affected by the programmes and projects concerned. The satisfaction of people's basic needs such as adequate food, education, and health care, must be a fundamental aspect of development initiatives and of macroeconomic adjustment programmes.
