The Debt Burden: Crushing the world's poor

Whatever view is taken of the strategic intent which lay behind the Bretton Woods arrangements, there is no doubt that the United States benefited hugely from the international monetary system that was put in place.

Meanwhile, the poverty gap between rich and poor nations has grown wider, and the debt burden carried by the developing countries has grown from $46 billion in 1970 to $2.5 trillion in 2000, much of which cannot, and probably should not, ever be repaid. This briefing looks at how this debt burden happened, and what might be done to alleviate it, in the interests of the lenders as much as the borrowers.

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