A joint project from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, the Debt Initiative for the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPCs) consists of an outline for adjustment and reform programs sponsored by these two organizations. The Website contains the framework for the project, which targets the 41 most heavily indebted poor countries, and gives examples as to how the initiative will...

Leaders of the seven largest industrial nations were sharply criticized at the start of their annual economic summit, held this year in Okinawa, for not following through on last year's pledge to write off $100 billion of the $260 billion owed to the West by the most indebted states. Most of the opening discussions have focused on how the debt forgiveness process might be sped up or at least how...

Released in June 2000, this 184-page report from the General Accounting Office reviews the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative. Originally undertaken by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in 1996 as a way of providing financial relief to the most indebted countries in the world, the initiative was enhanced in September 1999 as a response to the continuing vulnerability of...