But welcome though these changes are, they do not go far enough. As an Oxfam report last week argued, these headline figures are misleading. Figures from the enhanced HIPC debt relief applied to 12 countries shows that some of the worlds poorest countries will continue to transfer more to their creditors than they are able to invest in basic services. In the case of Zambia, one of the countries worst affected by Aids, around 40 per cent of government revenue will be consumed by debt servicing. Getting the terms right is a complex business.
Conditionality remains a vital factor.
But there is surely something serously wrong when a country undergoing reform and committed to a credible poverty reduction programme spends more on debt service than on health and education. There will be objections to this. Certainly, relief should not be granted without some evidence of sound policy and a commitment to the alleviation of poverty. But at the end of the day, creditors must be prepared to wipe the slate clean of the mistakes and calamities of the past. Only then will those desperately poor countries have a reasonable chance of doing better in future.