We’ve been hearing so many about the idea of debt relief. The word itself clearly means relief of debt or freeing ourselves of some if not all of our debts. However, the question in our minds stands…how true is it that we can be relieved of the debts we have concurred?
In the macro-economic level, debt relief happens with the countries that are laden with huge amounts of debt from the world unions such as the World Bank. One example of a nation that has been given the opportunity to relieve themselves from these debts is Africa. Oh, we’ve heard of it. The issue has been all around the TV and the local and international papers. We’re left to ponder on whether this debt relief was truly helpful to the impoverished nations or if it is given at a price the nation has to pay for.
As much as 33 poverty-stricken countries have benefited from the debt relief program that the World Bank has come up with, the HIPC or the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative, Africa included. For a country to qualify for the HIPC program, there are certain qualifications that one has to satisfy.
How helpful is the HIPC program for these countries?
The aim of the World Bank Union’s HIPC program is to help these heavily indebted countries to rise from poverty by lifting the heavy debts they have concurred over the years and by providing them with the needed funds to start anew. The union raises the amount that a country needs for to answer this matter.
Despite this amiable aims that the Union has come up with, with regards to the true purpose of the HIPC program to help these poverty-stricken countries, many still argue that the debt relief program is a farce. It’s an argument that has been going around for months.
Many argue that the debt relief services that the World Bank Union has come up with, the HIPC program, is actually a ‘blank check’ given by the Union to governments of these many heavily indebted countries. What’s more is that many of these heavily indebted countries have corrupt government officials and there is this fear that the funds that the HIPC program provides these countries only reaches the hands of those with power seated on these governments.
When we take this thought into our own perspectives, the ones who oppose the ideals of the HIPC program actually do have a point. Living in a country with a corrupt government helps us in identifying this fault in the program. The funds that the HIPC give these countries’ governments don’t actually go down to the people, to answer their needs, but instead, the funds end up in the already fat pockets of corrupt officials seated in power in the government.
This matter may be difficult to digest for those who live in the convenience of a country that does not have a corrupt government. But the question still stands, is the debt relief program by the World Bank Union a farce?