Tell the Multinational Development Banks and MEDCs to stop subsidising global poverty!

Every year the government and public give a vast amount of money to developing countries in order to fight poverty, and these developing countries give it straight back. They give it back in the form of debt repayments for so called "development loans". Many of these loans come from Multilateral Development Banks such as the World Bank and more come from western governments. But these loans rarely result in meaningful development. Between 1973 and 1993 third world debt grew to a staggering US$ 1.5 Trillion. Only US$ 400 billion of this was borrowed money; the rest came from interest rates of around 20% year on year. It's like a global payday loan firm!

You could blame the leaders of the borrowing countries for taking the risk to borrow in the first place, but is it really so hard to understand the temptation to accept a massive amount of money if your people are starving? Added to this is the fact that many of these loans were knowingly given to dictators, (in 7 countries in South America alone), who promptly found a way to get this money into their own or their cronies' bank accounts. I would argue that the common people in these countries should not be asked to pay off a loan that they never saw any benefits from decades after it was given.

Perhaps most damaging are the structural adjustment programmes that often come with loans from institutions such as the IMF and World Bank. These restructure the economy by lowering public spending on things such as health, benefits and the environment. This results in forests being cut down and people dying from treatable diseases. They also make the economy more export orientated and open up the country for private investment, (often by removing labour laws etc.) Hypothetically this should make the countries bigger players in global markets. However, with so many poor countries being advised to sell the same cash crops and commodities to the rich world, a price war develops, and the prices of these products generally fall. MEDCs prevent the third world getting a piece of markets they are involved in by subsidising important industries.

Basically Development loans have rarely resulted in meaningful development, but have often driven vulnerable countries further into poverty and made yet more money for the rich world. 18,000 children die each day because of poverty and everything that goes with it. Much of their blood is on the hands is of the Multilateral Development Banks and lender governments. If you oppose this injustice then join me in signing a petition to send to those who are culpable with these demands.

.If a country has paid back enough money to meet the cost of a loan plus inflation on the US dollar then that loan should be judged as paid.

. All loan repayments from countries that did not have democratically elected leaders at the time a loan was made should be cancelled.

.Stop structural adjustment programmes.

.Boards of Multilateral Development Institutions should have equal representation from MEDCs and LEDCs. This means voting power needs to be disassociated from the number of shares held my member countries, otherwise MEDCs will always control the direction the bank takes.

Please sign, and at the risk of being slightly depressing post on Facebook etc. as this is a massive issue that few people seem to know about.

Thank you

More info at:

http://www.globalissues.org/article/29/causes-of-the-debt-crisis

http://www.globalissues.org/article/30/the-scale-of-the-debt-crisis

http://cadtm.org/2012-WORLD-DEBT-FIGURES

http://data.unicef.org/child-mortality/under-five