Your comments since the programme

It would be a fitting gesture for the year 2000 if all third world debt was written off. In the long-run, everyone would benefit.
Wendy, UK

Until we, the third world population, get our act together and know the right people to put in positions of responsibility, we should not borrow, as government, any more and the lenders should give us the loans at their own peril. Pay back time, and certainly development, will definitely never come under the current circumstances of irresponsible politics.
Angels Kauseni, Zambia

Some of the comments that I have read are nearly unbelievable in their ignorance and naivety. Several people spoke about the high interest rates, when in fact they are quite low. This belief that just because they are third world countries they are inherently innocent and good and the west is inherently bad is downright stupid. These countries cannot pay their debts because their leaders either stole or squandered the money, or both. While in principal I have no problem with writing off the debt, to do so without conditions is to aid and abet theft. If these countries want to step into the 20th century, which is doubtful, then they have to realise that any restructuring or write-off of debt will come hand and hand with serious responsibility, which might include the management of their finances to insure the proper spending of any future loans.
Steve Guptill, UK

Let them off the debt, and spend the money on health and education of their people, to give a better future for the world.
Carol Goodman, England

It seems to me that the banks have long since written these debts off in their accounts - each year sees large sums put aside as 'provision against bad debt'. It would not harm them commercially to write these debts off. They can't be seen to do it, though, it would set a bad precident for future borrowers. So they must be compelled to do it by governments, thus freeing the banks of the responsibility for the decision and freeing the debtors at the same time. No one single act could do so much for the poor of the world. And Britain could act alone in this. We have, at last, a semi-socialist government. Let them display how much they care by striking out this debt from our books at least. We can afford to do it. We should.
Bob Harvey, UK

The debts should be cancelled for two reasons:
1. There's no way third world countries can pay off the debts because of the interest rate, and they will be paying this money back for the rest of their lives. Some people may say this is fine, but while they are paying the money to the banks, they are unable to put money into farming, irrigation, medicine.
2. The banks are portrayed as the innocent party in this problem, but they lent money to these countries to enable them to grow/develope a product. These countries were charged high interest rates which they could just afford while the west was buying the product, but eventually the market was swamped and the product was no longer bought. The Third World countries could not afford the payments, hence the debts. Now excuse me, but I do not believe it takes a financial wizard to work out that this was likely to happen.
To use Pete Morgan-Lucas ananlogy, if it was a mortgage for a house the banks would not give you the mortgage because they would be worried you would not be able to pay the money back.
Joe Kilkenny, UK

Slavery was thought to have been abolished in the 1800's. The debts of the third world countries are a far worse form of slavery than ever before. Debt should immediately be written off, so to abolish the evils of slavery forever.
E Smyth, UK

Don't cancel the debt, freeze interest. This should enable third world economies to repay their debt at an affordable rate and will no leave people in other countries paying for others debts. Borrowing money is expensive and the politicians in the third world countries knew what they were getting into before the borrowed. I can't see how this money improved the lives of the third world population in general. Yes, help them, but no I don't want to finance revolutions and wars.
Steven McCaw, Scotland

Yes, write off the debts, which have, in the main, gone into the hands of corrupt governments, their leaders or officials. Any money, which is given to the Third World in future, should be directed as specific projects, direct to the people who will benefit and not government-to-government loans. Meanwhile, freezing the assets of Third World leaders and their fat bank accounts in western banks, and prosecuting them for international fraud would be a good idea.
Jan, Australia

What needs to improve in these countries is the ability to pay. They are faced with huge loans with crippling interest and yet no means to pay it back. When we look at countries like Mali Chad and Niger, what can they pay debts with. It is time that the ex-colonial powers re-invest some of the wealth back into these nations that helped build the wealth of the west. In the UK, a man who has debt and loses his job is allowed to pay a smaller amount until the debt is paid. The interest is frozen and this is so until he works again and then he can pay more. The debt is repaid. Shouldn't we be applying the same tenets to sovereign nations. I agree cancelling the debt could serve corrupt government militaristic aims. In contrast our investing in jobs and infrastructure would aid and assist these nations to assist themselves.
Mark Lisle, Belgium

Money should be loaned to countries to get their economy working at a profit. It should not give any further loans to countries like Zimbabwe who use it to support wars in other countries. The money should be for the benefit of the poor. Rhodesia was a self sufficient country in spite of world sanctions. Now look at what has become of Zimbabwe.
Geoffrey Ward, Australia

The Philippines is forced to pay 40% of their export earnings each year to debt servicing for money borrowed by Marcos, much of which was never invested in the Philippine economy. What is paid out per year amounts to many times more than the country can spend for the annual budget of government agencies such as the Department of Trade & Industry and Department of Science & Technology. Which are geared to develop the economy and growth potential of small & medium enterprises, that form the backbone of livelihood opportunities for the masses. Why can't there be a moratorium of, say five years without additional interest on debt servicing to give the economy a chance to pick up in view of President Estrada's sincere efforts to curb corruption?
Boylan G. Preston, Philippines

About debt of poor countries, I hope rich countries will understand that we have to share the richness of our world. The problem is not to pay back, but to balance economy.
Manuboby Emma, Italy

Of course I want to see third world debt written off to ease the suffering of the people living in developing countries. But doing so now won't work. Giving the governments of these countries large amounts of extra money by cancelling the debt will just allow them to buy thousands of new guns and bombs to fight their tribe wars. Until stable governments are set up in every third world country, insistance on debt payment is the only way to ensure that the violence is limited by lack of resources.
Harry Snook, UK

Regardless of the suspected, and even proven corruptness of many of the governments concerned, the truth is that until the debts are cancelled, and the WMF's atrocious restructuring programme is abolished, the developing countries have no chance of stepping up from the appalling poverty that is so commonly their lot. It is well past the time when the developed, wealthy, cash-rich world showed an ounce of compassion and remorse for what they bestowed on the developing world.
Graham Follett, UK

Why not condition our loans/grants on countries' getting their population under control? After all, overpopulation is often the main cause of their need for help, and also the greatest problem we face as a planet.
Malcolm Drake , Oregon, USA

India was a British colony. It was looted and Britain was built on Indian raw material and the same is the case with most of the colonial masters who looted the colonies to become rich. Now it is their turn to repay.
Sukumar Rajasekhar, India

As an already overburdened taxpayer in the US, I'm tired of paying off debts incurred by corrupt government officials, overmilitarization etc. around the world. My message to the debtors is: Do as I do. Go to work & pay your debts, learn thrift.
Martin McGowan, USA

How do you justifiably write off the national debts of a country like Nigeria when the reality is that there are hundreds of corrupt leaders who could singularly pay off the country's debts from their loot.
Kunle Awofeso, UK

Your comments during the programme

It is morally wrong to burden 3rd world countries with crippling debt when arguably the money came from the colonisation and exploitation of those same countries in the first place. However, it is highly important to ensure the money would be spent wisely. The first precondition would be a good financial system and an relatively uncorrupted beaurocracy. Perhaps the money should be spent directly in the country on aid and education programs first.
Sebastian Powney Perth, Australia

Graham Howard: "The 1st world bears a great responsibility"

The economies of these countries in debt were remodelled in the interests of developed countries. Therefore the first world does bear a large amount of responsibility for the situation that caused these countries to get into debt.
Graham Howard, New York

Pietro Chiurezzi: "We must equilibriate the economies of the world"

The real problem is that we need to re-equilibrate the economies of the so-called developed and developing countries. We have to be more realistic if we are advocates of globalisation and we want free trade all partners must be on the same level.
Pietro Chiurezzi, Netherlands

Debt repayment for the poorest 23 countries is a catch 23 situation. They need more money to fulfill debt repayment conditions, but debt repayment eats up all their money Cancel the debt to break this vicious circle, at the same time giving every encouragement and assistance to practise financial responsibility.
John Wotherspoon, Hong Kong

Writing off debts should be conditioned on the eradication of corruption, otherwise the debts to be written off will, in a sense, be stolen from the taxpayers of creditor countries to make the rulers of those indebted countries rich. There must be institutional guarantees that debts written off will not have been thrown into bottomless pits.
Mustafa Eric Mongolia

John Maxwell: "It is not just"

It really upsets me to hear people talk about developing countries as if they are irresponsible spend-thrifts. The reason we have this debt is that we're paying 65% of our budget to repay debts. We are told that we got ourselves in this mess and it is not fair, it is not just and it is not true.
John Maxwell

At first glance, the act of cancelling such debts seems noble and generous. However, if we examine closely, many of these countries are the same ones where corruption and cronyism is at their worst. Time and again, leaders of these countries are the ones that are personally enriched during their time in power. Cancellation of debts sends out a wrong message.
Henry Goh, Singapore

There is a terrible imbalance in the distribution of wealth on the globe. It is easy to blame colonisation for the debts of the so called developing countries like Nigeria. The theft, fraud and dehumanisation being experienced in some countries should not qualify them for debt right-offs.
Kunle Awofeso, UK

Melima Kufakisa: "Discussions take place a long way from the suffering"

Most of these discussions take place very far from the suffering that occurs because of debt repayment policies. My country has been very consistent with repayment of debts but health and education have suffered.
Melima Kufakisa, Zambia

The lending program has not helped in health and education because the money is poorly supervised by these agencies. The net result of all these is that the people become poorer.There is a need for a change of emphasis.
Dr Kenneth K Adjepon Yamoah

We need to be less paternalistic and tackle the problems that are occurring right now because of debt repayments and see past the situations that these debts were occurred through.
Louis Echeverria, Brazil

The major burden for the poorer countries is the interest that builds up on these debts. If we brought n a system whereby the interest was waived, that the countries could find a way to use the money in a sensible. way.
Ron Kalavi, Denmark

Where did the IMF and the World Bank get the bright idea to give away all that money to developing countries governments, knowing full well the track records those governments had with fund management. Surely it would have made more sense to deal with these governments on policy matters and support the private sectors in those countries.
Eric James, Sierra Leone

Do NGOs do a better job of promoting development in these countries? If so, why not give (at least) some of the funding targeted for debt relief to those who can spend it responsibly. It seems to me the fundamental question in terms of how worthwhile it would be to call off these debts is that crooked politicians will just steal it all over again. Even if directing resources away from governments serves to further undermine their position, it has be better than funding palaces for kleptocrats.
Jay Fredericks, Norway

Your comments before we went ON AIR

We must seek to end this form of economic bondage. The issue at hand is not one of Third World corruption amongst the top echelons of their societies, but of the suffering of the poorest of the poor in these countries. The longer this debt is not lifted off the shoulders of these people, many of them, for generations to come, will not be able to live without poverty and suffering.
Alexis Paul, Republic of Singapore

Let's write off the debt and get the aid to the people who need it. But we must make the governments pay for the mess that they have made and the money that they have spent. Assure the public that the money they are donating in aid is going to the people who need it .
Claire Finkel, England

I have no problem with writing off their debts, PROVIDING they can demonstrate good fiscal and social responsibility. Otherwise they will simply go and borrow more and we'll be talking about this same subject again in a few years time.
Mark M Newdick, USA

There should be no global write off of debts. The politicians who instituted the "borrow and waste (or steal)" policies must be forced to face the public with their corrupt practices and incompetence. If the debts are written off the voting public will never know the extent of the waste and corruption that has occured and may be fooled into continuing to elect politicians of the type who believe that politics is a "fight for scarce benefits and spoils", as it was shamelessly put by a leading Jamaican politician. If there are to be write-offs then these should only occur where the waste and corruption has been fully investigated and the perpetrators incarcerated. If Justice cannot be shown to be done then there should be no write-off since such an occurence will simply be a triumph for the (corrupt) politicians who put the country in this position in the first place.
Jamaica

Let's remember one thing. The money which made up these loans, if from government or inter-governement agencies came out of the pockets of tax payers in the West. Yes, we should cancel these debts and start again, but there should be a full accounting, on both sides. Let us try and sentence the Kaundas, Mugagbes, Suhartos, Muhathirs etc as well as those in the west who contrived at their fleecing of western taxpayers and shareholders.
Tony Judge, Hong Kong

While in principle debt relief may appear as a tool to reducing poverty, the reality is that blanket debt relief is a pointless, possibly harmful act. Countries which have corrupt and undemocractic governments will not suddenly turn their windfalls into schools and hospitals. Partial debt relief for countries which have shown a committment to public service provision rather than Swiss bank accounts and fueling the arms industry of the rich might be a more progressive move.
Graham Wood, Uganda

While I see nothing wrong with writing off some debt, who is going to pay for this write off disturbs me. It won't be the banks, it is going to be the taxpayers paying for the bank's excesses and stupidity. I have a problem with picking up the can for others who probably got promoted for the loans in the first place.
Dixon, Canada

For every £1 given to third world charities, £7 are collected in repayment of debts. The cycle will never end unless we break it.
James Nickols, UK

Western banks can easily afford to write off the debts. In the long run it'll be good for all concerned since the poor countries can invest in their own economies, which would be beneficial to the West too. In other words, generosity pays in the long run.
Alan Roberts, UK

I disagree that the debt should be written off - as callous as that may sound. After working and travelling extensively in Africa, it became clear to me that vast amounts of aid already provided had not gone to where it was intended. Most of it has ended up in the personal bank accounts of the governments involved. The people by and large, have not benefited from aid due to endemic and systematic corruption. By writing off the debt, we are legitimising theft of public monies and corruption by governments on a 'feel good' western premise. Until individuals can be made accountable for such large scale thefts, and by inplication the continuing suffering of their peoples due to their corrupt practises, no debt write-off should be attempted.
Tony, UK

With 40 years of living in Africa I can tell you that if you write off Africa's debts, next week they'll be back demanding (not asking for) more money.
Chris, South Africa

Yes the debt slate should be wiped. clean. It is just ludicrous to think that it will ever get paid back in full quite simply because it's growth is outstripping the economic growth of the countries who owe it. NGO's should be given the money to expand their great work in helping the poor with health, education, environmentally sustainable projects. Another thing I would like to see is the world's rich individuals (those three hundred and fifty or so who own the equivalent wealth of a third of humanity), being a little more conspicuous with their gift giving. Mr Gates alone could wipe out the debt of most, if not all African countries.
William Zappa, Australia

Debt should only be written off for those countries with good records on human rights.
Stefan Rennick Egglestone, England

Why shouldn't these countries pay back what they borrowed? I think it would be more reasonable to develop a clear way in which each debt can be repaid - if this means charging little or no interest then so be it. We can't just forget about all this money. Either these countries pay it or we do though our taxes.
Matt Lee, UK

There are a lot of ignorant points from people complaining that the poorest countries in the world are having to pay money back to the richest. They borrowed the money, and as with any loan, they have to pay it back. Loans also carry interest, which again has to be paid back. If we allowed them to default on these repayments, it would set such a massive precedent that eventually no one would loan them money because they knew they weren't going to see it again; and where would that leave the Third World?
Matthew Illsley, England

The real problem for poor countries is not the debt but their leaders, who are corrupt to the highest level. If rich countries write off the debt, the people in power will again ask for loans for their country, will waste it away and again this vicious circle will start. These leaders come to power and remain there because they are patronized by the West. It is in their interest that such corrupt people stay in power. Otherwise how will the West get raw material for its luxuries? How will the West dump its products in the poor countries?
Ahmad Nadeem Khawaja

Debt repayment is draining countries like Brazil, turning social problems into a time bomb. Interest rates around the world are going up and product prices are going down. Therefore, it is impossible to pay back these debts. It is also important that we realise that a world with deep social differences is also a problem also for developed countries.
Ricardo Silveira Bernardes, Brazil

I see some ignorant comments from people saying that the third-world countries should be expected to pay back the money they borrowed. The point is that they have *already* paid back far more than they ever borrowed; the problem is the *interest* we' decided to charge them on the loan. It's like we handed them a bunch of credit cards and recommended that they spend, spend, spend their way into a healthy economy. Of course we should write off the remaining debt. We should never have encouraged them to run up a ruinous debt at massive rates of interest in the first place.
Mathew, USA

Corruption plays a major part in various Third World nations being unable to service their debts. Before writing off those debts the chief offenders should be brought to trial and all 'their' assets confiscated. Make it clear that the international community will not tolerate outright thievery as it occurs in countries like Kenya and Nigeria. Once these loans are written off these countries will, in the normal way of business, need to borrow money: it has to made plain that they will first need to clean their act up and that leaders who steal from their countries will have no immunity from prosecuted.
James, USA

No I don't think that the dept should be a total write off. This in no way has any form of educational value. In fact the wrong signal is sent if you do wipe the slate clean. they have the idea that if it can get away with it once, why not a second or third time too?
D Morgan, UK

Loans given to third world countries do not necessarily end up in big investments, instead they end up in the pockets of corrupted local authorities. So writing off the debt is not going to solve any problem, those who are poor, will still be suffering.
Murad Muderris, Canada

They borrowed the money, they should pay it back. If you forgive them their debts, then I presume you'll be campaigning for me to keep my house without keeping up the mortgage-payments too?
Pete Morgan-Lucas, UK