partial debt

The 36 countries that have so far received full or partial debt relief are:

Partial debt amnesty as a way to resolve it?

On economic issues, he has voted for a 2001 bankruptcy overhaul requiring partial debt repayment.

Partial debt remission would reward enterprises which agreed on a restructuring programme with their creditors.

Voted YES on Bankruptcy Overhaul requiring partial debt repayment.

Though the Peronists have long demanded a partial debt moratorium, the Radicals have accepted the idea of paying the interest and, in theory anyway, the principal.

But Mr. Herrhausen's outspoken call for debt reduction, even mentioning the possibility of partial debt forgiveness, has disturbed some colleagues.

The partial debt cancellation has done some good - Zambia for example is now able to provide universal free healthcare and Tanzania has increased its education spending.

Mr. Bresser Pereira, who took office shortly after Brazil announced a partial debt moratorium last February, had succeeded in restoring working relations with foreign banks.

That is what happened this week when the Journal Company, the largest of the three debt-laden newspaper companies once controlled by Ralph Ingersoll, announced a partial debt restructuring.

Prior to the partial debt payment and write-off, Nigeria spent roughly US $1 billion every year on debt servicing, without making a dent in the principal owed.

After five dreary years of adding new debt just to pay interest on old debt, they present an alternative: partial debt forgiveness in exchange for a guarantee on the remainder.

He said he was worried that the pattern of lending money to such nations, and then declaring partial debt forgiveness, bred cynicism and sent the wrong signals to developing nations.

He added that Brazil would be unable to lift its partial debt moratorium until a new agreement is worked out with the 14-bank advisory committee that represents the country's 600 or so creditors.

One obstacle to a quick deal, though, is Brazil's insistence on reaching an agreement with commercial banks before it lifts its partial debt moratorium or before it initiates negotiations with the International Monetary Fund.

At the same time, the seven nations approved a plan that would reduce the burden of 18 nations in Africa south of the Sahara by offering them reduced interest rates, longer repayment periods or partial debt forgiveness.

But the economic package, which was imposed after months of hesitation, also has considerable political risks for President Sarney, who has repeatedly pledged not to accept a recession as the price for ending Brazil's partial debt moratorium.

But while talks between Brazil and its commercial creditors are expected to resume later this month, many financial experts believe this country's domestic economic problems are still greater than those created by its partial debt moratorium last February.

Brazil's new objectives include a quick agreement with its commercial creditors to end its partial debt moratorium, negotiation of an "adjustment" program with the International Monetary Fund and resumption of long-term loans by foreign governments.

In this case very often there are international negotiations which end in a partial debt cancellation (London Agreement on German External Debts 1953) or debt restructuring (e.g. Brady Bonds in the 1980s).

Under the Brady plan, hard-up countries which carry out structural economic reforms that meet the approval of the International Monetary Fund qualify not only for partial debt forgiveness by the banks but also, in some cases, for new money.

Rather than by making extreme cutbacks to essential public services, the cost should be covered by the top earners and speculators, by means of partial debt relief for countries such as Greece and of a tax on banks, for example.

The Group of Seven industrial democracies recently approved a plan that offered the possibility of partial debt forgiveness to 18 destitute African nations, and Citibank and Brazil signed an agreement that could cut Brazil's debts by $18 billion over the next five years.

Since Russia's devaluation and partial debt default in August, foreign investors and Government officials have expressed concern that Brazil could also implode and drag the rest of Latin America down with it, especially its partners in the Mercosur trading bloc, such as Argentina.

Some suggest that partial debt forgiveness - a measure between the outright repudiation of debt by the borrowing country and the stretch-out of existing loans by the lender - may be as attractive for creditor banks and nations as it is for the beleaguered borrowers.