Workshop on International Regulations
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Workgroup
on Solidarity Socio-Economy--Alliance 21 Workshop on International Regulations |
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| ３－（４） Comments of Jurgen Kaiser to Oscar Ugarteche Paper on Debt Cancellation |
November 2004 Jurgen Kaiser Most remarks on Oscar's paper have already been made by earlier commentators. I would just want to add one point, which reaches a bit beyond Oscar's conceptual focus into the question of how to bring the IBASD about: One essential element on an IBASD is the independent assessment of the debtor's debt sustainability. Currently BM & IMF are propagating a revised approach towards debt sustainability analysis in order to inform future lending decision. Thus they try to tacitly disconnect the concept of debt sustainability from the solution of existing debt crisis. DSA's which are being undertaken by impartial institutions based on consultation with all relevant stakeholders on the creditor as well as the debtor side are likely to produce viable guidelines for debt relief amounts - provided they are clearly bound to human development as a basis. But they are more than this. The Bank & Fund monopoly over assessing debt problems of individual countries, is also upheld by the argument that due to alleged insight and technical expertise there is no alternative to a creditor dominated framework. NGOs and campaigns have produced sound argumentation against this notion over the past years. However, this has not rung with governments in the South, which are crucial actors when it comes to demanding impartiality in debt negotiations. In our own case, we have won widespread support for impartiality in debt negotiations from our government, but no practical steps yet. Simply because there is no demand. From that angle there is a strong strategic suggestion from our side to step up efforts towards bottom-up DSAs in individual country cases. This can come from our own NGO/CSO ranks, from agencies of the UN system, or, ideally from a broader alliance which includes various actors, including financial authorities in debtor countries from the outset. There is no reason to believe that anything like the IBASD is ever to result from international consultative processes, be it in the IFIs or (preferably) outside of them. Debtor governments which see that alternative procedures will not only strike them a better deal but are also in line with a lot of creditor rhetoric in the concept of the Monterrey process (for instance), may turn out to be the crucial agents for change - though this may be an incremental one. Jurgen Kaiser Jurgen Kaiser |
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