UGANDA

Debt in Uganda External Debt: $ 3,865,000,000 Uganda has a considerable amount of debt problems. It’s foreign debt has grown from $3.4 billion in 1998 to $3.83 billion last June despite the $1 billion received in debt relief it has been growing at £68 million a year for the last 4 years. The HIPC (heavily indebted poor countries initiative) was hailed by the world's richest nations as the solution to the debt and poverty crisis affecting the world's poorest countries.

Aid in Uganda In September 1996 the HIPC initiative was approved as a means of dealing comprehensively with the debt burdens of the world's poorest countries. HIPC is a multilateral form of relief, the proposed Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI), the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the African Development Fund (ADF) agreed to provide 100 percent debt cancellation to Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPCs). It offers significant assistance to countries facing unsustainable external debt obligations, after the full application of traditional debt relief mechanisms, provided they are successfully implementing economic and social reforms. Under the HIPC Initiative, assistance is provided after a period of monitoring of economic performance. The countries will receive assistance once the period of further monitoring — up to three years — is completed. In January 2000, the Executive Boards of the IDA and the IMF decided that Uganda was eligible and qualified for additional debt relief under the enhanced HIPC framework, and committed the amounts of their respective assistance at the completion point subject to satisfactory assurances of participation by Uganda’s other creditors.2 Uganda’s eligibility reflected the effectiveness of its poverty reduction strategy to date, the effective application of resources from debt relief under the original HIPC framework to its poverty reduction programs, the consultative process involving civil society, local authorities, donors, and parliament in the formulation of its poverty reduction strategy, and the authorities sustained progress in implementing economic and structural reforms.   Economic aid: $1.4 billion (2000)

Has the aid been successful? The problem that has evolved in Uganda is that some donors give money directly to non-governmental organizations (N.G.O.s) through commercial banks, not the central bank, and the government is unable to control it. They also channel money through government coffers. Although the ministry of finance is unsure of the exact amount of foreign aid entering the country to run H.I.V./AIDS programs, it estimates that it may reach $100 million each year. Total foreign aid levels for the fiscal year 2005-06 will reach about $989 million, according to ministry figures. This is because foreign aid has spurred the Ugandan shilling’s appreciation. A few years ago the shilling traded at 2000 against the dollar, but now it is hovering at about 1780. The huge volume of foreign money entering the country has bolstered demand for goods and services, and as a result increased the risk of inflation in Uganda. So the Ugandan government has raised interest rates on treasury bills that it issues to third parties to decrease this demand, or ease inflation. Normal interest rates average about 10 percent to 12 percent, but over the last few years businesses have had to contend with rates of 20 percent, the impact of the strengthened shilling on small exporters who are trying to build up is deadly because people are now making losses Uganda has decided to cut the portion of its government budget deficit that is financed by aid. Aid levels have grown from 6 percent of G.D.P. in 1998-99 to current levels of 11.5 percent. Although it will not consider stopping foreign aid altogether, Muhakanizi says, the country plans to return foreign aid levels to the days of 6 percent of G.D.P., and it will do this by reducing aid by 0.5 percent to 1 percent each year.

Indonesia

Debt in Indonesia External debt: $141.5 billion 1942 to 1945. Indonesia declared its independence after Japan's surrender, but it required four years of intermittent negotiations, recurring hostilities, and UN mediation before the Netherlands agreed to relinquish its colony. Indonesia is the world's largest archipelagic state. Current issues include: alleviating widespread poverty, preventing terrorism, continuing the transition to popularly-elected governments after four decades of authoritarianism, implementing reforms of the banking sector, addressing charges of cronyism and corruption, and holding the military and police accountable for human rights violations. Indonesia has been dealing with armed separatist movements in Aceh and in Papua.

Aid in Indonesia The IMF has played a key role in increasing Indonesia's foreign and domestic indebtedness. The institution is dominated by rich country OECD governments, like the US, the UK and Japan, who are its biggest shareholders. Most IMF policies are designed to promote their interests, and the interests of investors, creditors and speculators based in those countries. The IMF also acts as the gatekeeper for access to international finance and capital. So for Indonesia to be able to borrow on the international capital markets, or indeed for Indonesia to be able to obtain aid from OECD countries, it must first gain the approval of the IMF. Economic aid: $43 billion note: Indonesia finished its IMF program in December 2003 but still receives bilateral aid through the Consultative Group on Indonesia (CGI), which pledged $2.8 billion in grants and loans for 2004 and again in 2005; nearly $4 billion in aid money pledged by a variety of foreign governments and other groups following the 2004 tsunami; money is slated for use in relief and rebuilding efforts in Aceh.

Bibliography www.cia.gov www.christian-aid.org.uk www.un.org http://www.worldpress.org/Africa