Developing Courntries: Switching Some Multilateral Loans to Grants Lessens Poor Country Debt Burdens.

摘要

In July 2001, President Bush proposed that the World Bank and other development banks dramatically increase the distribution of grants to the world's poorest countries, recommending that grants replace up to 50 percent of future lending. This proposal was motivated, in part, by concerns regarding poor countries long-term debt burdens and the adequacy of recent initiatives to provide debt relief for the world's poorest countries. The president's grants proposal would mean a significant change for multilateral institutions such as the World Bank, which traditionally use low-cost loans to deliver development assistance. The proposal has been controversial, in part due to concerns about the impact of the proposal on the amount of resources that will be available for poor countries. The World Bank estimates that the president's proposal could reduce its resources by about $100 billion over the next 40 years.