Oxfam to lobby for debt cancellation

Oxfam plans to lobby the world's richest countries to cancel Malawi's external debt estimated at over US $500 million. Maxwell Mphwina, Oxfam's Malawi Programme Officer, told IRIN on Tuesday that Oxfam, with the Jubilee 2000 international debt cancellation lobby, would impress upon the G8 summit in Germany next month that instead of repaying the debt, Malawi should rather invest the money in free primary education. The G8 countries are the United States, Canada, Japan, France, Germany, Italy, Britain and Russia. "Debt repayment has drained almost 17 percent of Malawi's annual export earnings," Mphwina said, adding that this has had a negative impact on the country's development. "The debt repayment diverts resources from long-term poverty reduction programmes like education and health care." The World Bank has about 14 active projects in Malawi totalling US $583 million in International Development Association (IDA) credits, while the Bank's private sector lending arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) has commitments totalling US $2.1 million. Malawi, according to UNDP figures, is ranked the 121st poorest country out of 137 nations. This status is characterised by a low life expectancy of 44 years; adult literacy that stands at 39 percent and 29 percent for women; and the fact that only 25 percent of the rural population and 33 percent of the urban population have access to safe water.