Call for World Bank and IMF to ease debt relief conditions

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) on Tuesday called on the World Bank and the IMF to respond to regional fears over conditions attached to accessing promised debt relief, AP reported on Wednesday. SADC Senior Economist Stephen Sianga said already there was growing scepticism and frustration with the Enhanced Highly Indebted Poor Countries or HIPC initiative launched by the World Bank and IMF in April due to “roadblocks” and strings of conditionalities.

“There is, therefore, need for not only fairer rules of the game but also for speedy action to allay emerging fears in certain quarters of perceived possibilities of shift in goal posts,” he said.” Any further delays would only help to amplify the voices of those calling for total debt cancellation of our affected members states and other developing countries, Sianga added. He said that it was evident that colossal debt servicing obligations divert a huge chunk of resources from investment in both directly productive sectors and people-centred sectors such as education, health care, social welfare and child care.