Let’s not pretend that third world debt is about wise investment of borrowed money in order to develop a country’s economy more quickly. If it were so, the countries which borrowed the most would be the ones doing well. Without getting into statistics, I’ll just point out that debt is more often hurting these economies than helping them. Debt is there, though, so what can be done about it?
Third World Debt Renunciation
To suggest that countries should renounce their debt may sound too radical at first, but not once you understand the nature of international debt. With the guise of helping to develop a country’s resources, the world bank or various governments loan money to a third world government. Lenders usually don’t want just to make interest, but also to develop something that will benefit them, like oil or lumber resources they need. Also, it is commonly expected that companies from the lending countries will get large contracts for various development projects.
Of course, the corrupt government that receives the loan has it’s own ideas about what to do with the money. Altogether, many corrupt officials,...