It shall be a jubilee to you. International debt condemns hundreds of millions of people to live in poverty. Debt undermines dignity and self-determination. Debt diverts resources from basic needs such as education, nutrition, health, clean water and sanitation. Debt leads to destruction of the environment.
Debt creates political, social and economic instability throughout the world.
Now the Year of Jubilee is here. Debt relief was not a priority issue for Congress or for the Administration. World-wide pressure had not yet convinced the World Bank that fundamental reforms were needed in its programs designed to provide debt relief and encourage development. Few of us in the wealthy nations realized that debt kills. In Mozambique, one in four children dies before age 5, yet the government spends four times as much money on servicing the debt as it does on health care.