The African Development Bank commissioned four case studies on Debt Relief Initiatives, Development Assistance and Service Delivery in Ghana, Malawi, Senegal, and Uganda from the last quarter of 2006 to mid 2007. The objective of the study was to appraise the extent to which debt relief resources are being used to improve social service delivery. There is strong agreement from all four case studies that debt relief created flexibility in governments spending by playing the role of flexible and predictable budget support. In this context, governments acquired more degrees of freedom to allocate debt relief resources in line with their own objectives. In all four countries debt relief resources were more easily transformed into MDG-related spending than tied aid. The case studies had a consensus in identifying the accountability of public institutions to civil society, through community monitoring or execution of expenditures, as the most effective means of enhancing spending effectiveness. This formed the basis for the success observed in program implementation. From the findings of the case studies it is clear that debt relief can lead to enhanced service delivery provided certain conditions prevail. These conditions can be influenced by donors as well as the willingness of beneficiary governments to undertake reforms. The general observation across the case studies is that debt relief has a major positive impact on service delivery, and progress towards the MDGs, when beneficiaries: (i) have high capacity in MDG spending, (ii) are highly accountable, and (iii) receive stable and high-quality aid.

In 1996, the World Bank & the Internat. Monetary Fund (IMF) agreed to undertake a comprehensive approach, called the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative (HIPCI), for providing debt relief to the poorest & most indebted countries in the world. In Sept. 1999 the World Bank & the IMF agreed to enhance this initiative. This report: (1) assesses whether the enhanced HIPCI is likely to free up resources for poverty reduction & achieve the goal of debt sustainability; (2) describes the strategy to strengthen the link between debt relief & poverty reduction & how this strategy is to be implemented; & (3) describes the challenges creditors face in funding the 1999 initiative. Charts & tables.

The volume presents a pan-African perspective, giving an overview of the ?African debt dilemma?, causes, effects and policy options. It presents case studies on virtually all the southern, central- southern, and east African countries, and comparative studies on debt and poverty alleviation in sub-Saharan Africa in general, and in the SADC region in particular. An entire section is devoted to theoretical perspectives, covering topics such as debt forgiveness initiatives and poverty alleviation; debt, poverty, compliance and the classics of regression; the urbanisation of poverty, and dichotomous poverty alleviation strategies; and population variables.

This report reviews progress and issues in implementing the enhanced HIPC Initiative. In addition to updating information on the delivery of HIPC debt relief and its estimated costs, it discusses two particular issues: the decline in the participation of commercial and non-Paris Club bilateral creditors to the Initiative; and the preliminary list of countries that satisfy the indebtedness eligibility criterion under the extended HIPC sunset clause.

This paper focuses on Central African Republic’s (CAR) completion point under the Enhanced Initiative for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) and debt relief under the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI). In the view of International Development Association (IDA) and IMF staff, CAR has made satisfactory progress in meeting the requirements to reach the completion point. All the floating triggers have been fully implemented. Upon reaching the completion point under the enhanced HIPC Initiative, CAR will also qualify for additional debt relief under the MDRI.

In June 2010, the International Development Association (IDA) and the IMF agreed that Comoros had met the requirements for reaching the decision point under the Enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative. As a result of the debt reconciliation exercise for the completion point, the present value of eligible external debt at end-2009 has been revised upward. Full delivery of HIPC assistance together with additional bilateral assistance beyond HIPC and Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) debt relief at the completion point would reduce Comoros’ external debt burden significantly.