This book examines the mechanisms of debt relief for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries coordinated by the IMF and the World Bank. It includes a case study that illustrates the process and provides insight into the collaboration between creditors and debtors.

1. Objectives and Plan of the Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2. Literature Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 3. Structure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Part I. Multilateral Debt Relief for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 A. The Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative (HIPC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 1. Concessional Assistance to Low-Income Countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 2. The HIPC Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 2. 1. The Heavily Indebted Poor Country Initiative of 1996 . . . . . . . . 33 2. 2. The Cologne G-8 Summit of 1999 and HIPC II. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 2. 3. Eligibility and Implementation under the Enhanced HIPC Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 3. What kind of debt is addressed by HIPC? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 4. HIPC Funding and Finances . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 4. 1. The PRGF-HIPC Trust of the IMF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 4. 2. The World Bank HIPC Trust Fund . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 4. 3. The IDA Debt Reduction Facility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 4. 4. HIPC Financing through Multilateral Creditors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 4. 5. Conclusion: Trust Fund Financing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 5. HIPC Proceedings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 B. Debt Relief under the G-8: The Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 1. MDRI as Operational Successor of HIPC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 2. Subsequent Changes in Lending Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 C. Case Study: The Contemporary History of Debt Relief in Ghana. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 1. Ghana's History with Economic Aid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 2. Ghana's Reform Process under HIPC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .86 X Table of Content 2. 1. Implementation of the HIPC Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 2. 1. 1. Preliminary Documents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 2. 1. 2. Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 2. 1. 3. Decision Point Document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 2. 1. 4. Ghana's Completion Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 2. 2. Donor Coordination under the Multi Donor Budgetary Support (MDBS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

   Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

   Klappentext

   This study addresses the mechanisms of debt relief for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) jointly coordinated by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. It describes the content of the HIPC program and classifies it as a legally non-binding instrument under public international law. A case study on Ghana illustrates the HIPC relief process, sheds light on its implementation practice and provides insight into the collaboration between HIPC creditors and debtors. The study explains the process of creditor coordination and the ways in which IMF and World Bank succeeded to establish a sovereign state insolvency mechanism for their highly indebted member states.

   Inhalt
   Multilateral Debt Relief for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries.- Doctrinal Reconstruction of HIPC in a Public International Law Perspective.- Multilateral Debt Relief Under HIPC global Governance Perspectives.- Issues of Legitimacy.- Conclusions.