Africa: Poor countries, loans and the MDGs

This report from Christian Aid and AFRODAD argues that the process by which aid-recipient countries agree to take on the terms and conditions of a loan needs to be opened up to scrutiny by citizen groups and their representatives in parliament and other formal democratic structures. This should help to avoid lending and borrowing mistakes, which in the past have led to the build-up of unsustainable debts that now have to be paid off at the cost of financing the Millennium Development Goals. Christian Aid and AFRODAD commissioned research in December 2003 to investigate the links between debt management, the build-up of new loans, and the most sustainable ways of financing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Malawi, Mozambique, Uganda, Tanzania and Zambia. Click on the link to read the full report.