Archbishop lauds debt relief

2005-06-13 11:23

Johannesburg - Anglican Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane has welcomed the announcement by the Group of Eight industrialised nations to write off more than R265bn of African debt.

"The cancellation of this debt will help African countries to improve the lives of its people. It is very encouraging to see this progress after all our years of campaigning for debt relief," the archbishop said on Monday.

The world's wealthiest countries announced on Saturday the cancellation of multilateral debt owed to the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the African Development Bank by 18 countries, mainly African nations.

In 1998, Archbishop Ndungane was appointed patron of Jubilee 2000, an international organisation which focused on promoting the cancellation of the debt owed by poorer developing countries to developed countries.

"These debts are literally unpayable. The debtor countries will never be able to repay them despite outlaying significant funds every year - funds that are urgently needed for basic human requirements including clean water, food, shelter and basic education," said Ndungane.

"Debt creates a cycle of poverty that is inescapable, I am hoping that this latest write-off of debt will pave the way for even more progress and improvements as the G8 countries work together."

Prescriptive

The cancellation of debt would enable governments of the developing countries to determine priorities to sustain the lives of the people living in their countries. The countries would now be able to channel money into much-needed human development programmes.

"I am also hoping that the G8 governments will not be prescriptive to African governments as to how and how not to use the money that has been freed up," said Ndungane.

"We recognise that developing countries must use this money responsibly in caring for their own people and the onus is on them to put the money to good use and maintain proper fiscal discipline, but you cannot give with one hand while taking back with another."

Ndungane said the debt write-off would encourage African countries to achieve the Millennium Development Goal of halving world poverty by 2015.

Finance ministers from the G8 industrialised states will meet at a summit in Gleneagles, Scotland next month to consider proposals for doubling aid.

- SAPA