The Bush administration renewed its call this weekend for the world to forgive Iraq’s $120 billion in foreign debt, during a three-day meeting of the World Bank. United States officials were met with opposition from France, which is advocating only 50 percent debt relief for Iraq this year.
We support the President’s effort to free the people of Iraq from under the crippling weight of debt payments. But we remind him and the other members of the G7 that Iraq is not the only country in need of forgiveness.
Between 1970 and 2002, African nations received $540 billion in loans from global lending institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Despite servicing their debt to the tune of $550 billion in interest payments, these African nations still owe $295 billion, according to a United Nations report entitled “Debt Sustainability: Oasis or Mirage?” released Thursday.
The report concludes that there is an urgent need for a total cancellation of Africa’s debt to foreign investors. The Bush administration seems to agree.
“We are prepared to go to debt forgiveness of up to 100 percent,” Treasury Secretary John Snow told the World Bank.
Despite this pledge, the meetings disbanded on Sunday without an agreement. Rather than wait while the international community lumbers towards consensus — which won’t happen until next year at the earliest — we believe a wise first step would be to place a moratorium on future debt servicing for the poorest and most heavily indebted countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
This is hardly a new idea. We know it will work because it has worked in the past. Cancellation of international debts under the Marshall Plan helped to rebuild post-war Europe and Japan. More recently, debt relief in Mozambique and Uganda produced good, if incomplete, results.
We are aware that debt forgiveness alone will not solve the problems of worldwide poverty and disease. But tying even partial debt relief to health services could save hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of lives by freeing up resources necessary in the fight against, for example, the AIDS epidemic.
We often hear about the religious virtue of forgiveness in our country. Debt forgiveness is also an issue of virtue. Are we a virtuous people? If so, then we need to stop talking about debt forgiveness and do what it takes to make it happen for those in the world that need it most.

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