africa: REAL PROGRESS REPORT ON HIPC

Countries are being delayed in the HIPC initiative by conditionalities that are not relevant to debt relief, including overly stringent fiscal criteria and the requirement to privatise large swathes of the economy, according to a report from the New Economics Foundation intended to shadow the official World Bank and IMF annual HIPC Status of Implementation Report. The report says debt sustainability should be defined according to whether or not countries will be left with sufficient resources to meet the Millennium Development Goals after debt relief.