IFIs slammed for exploiting poor

Committee for Abolition of Third World Debt criticizes IFIs for using debt as tool to exploit poor countries.

KARACHI: The international financial institutions (IFIs) on Tuesday came in for harsh criticism and were blamed for using debt as a powerful tool to exploit developing and poor countries.

Stephanie Jacquemont, a representative of the Committee for Abolition of Third World Debt (CADTM), said this exploitative system needs to be dismantled and rich countries must write off loans of poor countries which are paying billions of dollars in debt servicing every year.

She was speaking to mark the 10-day protest campaign launched globally from Oct 7-17 by CADTM, a movement aimed at getting the third world debt written-off.

Talking to reporters at the Karachi Press Club, Jacquemont also asked the developing countries to stop taking fresh loans from the IFIs, underlining that debt servicing is a burden on their economies which stalls efforts to deliver on social front to their citizens. Jacquemont, who has come from Belgium to show solidarity with the flood-affected people of Pakistan, said the group has planned to stage rallies in Islamabad on October 14 in order to press Pakistan’s government not to take fresh loans from the IFIs and stop implementing the current International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.

She said Pakistan has experienced the worst floods in the history and it should seek a debt write-off from the international lenders. Pakistan pays around $3 billion in debt servicing every year and will continue to do so until it gets rid of $55 billion in foreign loans.

Jacquemont urged Pakistani non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to raise their voice against the exploitative debt system of the IFIs and write letters to them during the protest campaign.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 13^th, 2010.