ANNUAL REPORT 2008 It Is a Pleasure for Me in My Capacity of Paris Foreword Club Chairman to Present the Annual Report of Activity of the Paris Club
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The Paris Club Secretariat can be contacted at the following address: Secrétariat du Club de Paris Direction générale du Trésor et de la politique économique ANNUAL 139, rue de Bercy - Télédoc 551 75572 Paris Cedex 12 France REPORT More information are available on the Paris Club website http://www.clubdeparis.org Sircom : Studio graphique Conception 2008 ANNUAL REPORT 2008 It is a pleasure for me in my capacity of Paris Foreword Club Chairman to present the annual report of activity of the Paris Club. With this report, Paris Club members show their commitment to ensure in a fully transparent way their role in orderly sovereign debt restructuring. Transparency has been a key word for the Paris Club in 2008 as Ishown by the publication of the amount of Paris Club claims on all foreign countries on the Paris Club Web site for the fi rst time this year. This move was intended to enhance transparency on debt data and to encourage every creditor, in particular Ramon Fernandez major non Paris Club offi cial creditors, to engage Chairman of the Paris Club in a comprehensive debt reporting and disclosure process. Information sharing is indeed at the heart of any cooperative approach to assess risks of debt distress in a reliable manner and to help solve debt problems in developing countries. In the context of the global fi nancial crisis and of serious payment diffi culties encountered by many countries faced by shocks on terms of trade, and especially on commodity prices, the Paris Club has demonstrated its pragmatic approach by granting when necessary exceptional treatments - for HIPCs and non-HIPCs - delivering immediate cash fl ow relief on top of usual terms of treatment. In 2008, the Paris Club has also pursued its contribution to the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative by delivering timely debt relief at each stage of the HIPC initiative. Landmarks have been reached in the HIPC initiative with Liberia and Togo reaching their decision point. The Paris Club has also accompanied various countries eligible for the HIPC initiative on the path to completion point by resuming debt relief treatments that had been interrupted due to diffi culties encountered by those countries in meeting the targets set under previous IMF programs. Globally, in 2008, the has actively done so in 2008, especially in the amount of debt due by HIPCs and treated context of the Doha conference. The Paris Club has in the Paris Club framework amounted to particularly stressed the importance of completing USD 3.12 billion of which 1.6 billion has been debt relief initiatives through an upgraded cancelled. participation from all major creditors. The Paris Club has also encouraged all creditors to endorse Outside the scope of the HIPC intiative, the Paris commitments to help prevent the action of Club has enacted the last phase of its agreement litigating creditors against HIPCs and to safeguard with Iraq by delivering the remaining 20% debt long term debt sustainability through cautious cancellation on a total of 80% stemming from the lending and borrowing practices. I am pleased to 2004 agreement with this country. This new stage say that views expressed by Paris Club creditors recognizes the satisfactory implementation by were refl ected in the fi nal Doha declaration. Iraq of its economic program supported by an IMF arrangement and the progress made by Iraq in Finally, I think the Paris Club has a crucial role to seeking a treatment comparable to that granted play in enhancing creditors’ coordination to help by the Paris Club by its other creditors. The Paris deliver timely debt treatments. The Paris Club has Club has also considered the situation of Djibouti therefore actively pursued a policy of outreach under the so called «Evian approach» deemed to over the last few years by associating on a case- comprehensively treat debt repayment diffi culties, by-case basis signifi cant non Paris-Club creditors especially by systematically analyzing whether to Paris Club negotiations and by engaging in a countries are in a sustainable debt situation. continued dialogue with «new» creditors, and especially emerging countries which are more and In order to give some perspective on the eff ects more actively lending to developing countries. of Paris Club treatments, this annual report provides an analysis on two past Paris Club In the current economic circumstances that very treatments and their impact on the economic seriously aff ect the prospect of emerging and situation of the countries concerned as well as developing countries, I believe that the Paris Club on the poverty-reducing expenditures for HIPCs. with its longstanding practice of coordinated Overall, there is no doubt that Paris Club debt solutions for debt issues will respond appropriately relief has contributed to enlarge fi scal space and and continue to take its share of the multilateral help benefi ciary countries to mobilize additionnal eff orts to mitigate the eff ects of the crisis, while public revenue for development purposes. I hope preventing a new cycle of debt distress ■ that readers will fi nd this analysis informative. I would also like to underline the increasing role of the Paris Club in international debates on debt issues. As a group of major sovereign creditors that has been involved in restructuring operations for more than 50 years, the Paris Club is particularly legitimate to contribute to these debates and 3 4 Summary Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 6 Key developments in 2008 ................................................................................................................................................ 7 Paris Club debt treatment activity in 2008 • Agreements concluded in the framework of the Enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative ................................................................................................. 8 • Agreements concluded under the Evian approach .................................................................11 • Argentina’s announcement of its intention to pay in full its debt to the Paris Club .................................................................................................................................................................. 12 • Completion of the Debt Reduction for Iraq ............................................................................................. 12 Impact of past Paris Club debt treatments on the situation of developing countries • The impact of debt rescheduling and the case of the Dominican Republic ......................................................................................................................................................... 13 • The impact of debt cancellations and the case of Cameroon ......................... 14 General issues discussed in the framework of the Paris Club in 2008 • Doha conference on fi nancing for development ..........................................................................17 • Publication of Paris Club claims on foreign sovereign and other public debtors.....................................................................................................................................................................18 • The Paris Club outreach policy ...............................................................................................................................................20 • The comparability of treatment challenges ............................................................................................ 21 Annexes • Key features of the Paris Club ............................................................................................................................................... 25 • Amounts due to Paris Club creditor countries by foreign sovereign and other public debtors as of 1st September 2008 ................... 26 • Key Principles of the Paris Club ........................................................................................................................................... 29 • Quantitative impact of debt cancellations on economic growth ........... 30 5 The Paris Club is an informal group of nineteen Introduction offi cial creditors. Its role is to fi nd coordinated and sustainable solutions to the payment diffi culties encountered by debtor nations. TParis Club creditors grant debt treatment to debtor countries in the form of rescheduling, which is debt relief by postponement or, in the case of concessional rescheduling, of a reduction in debt service obligations. The fi rst meeting with a debtor country was held on 16 May 1956 when Argentina met its public creditors in Paris. Since then, the Paris Club has reached 408 agreements (excluding early repayment operations) with 86 debtor countries. These agreements have covered a total of more than USD 539 billion in nominal value since 1956. Nevertheless, the Paris Club has remained strictly informal. It is a voluntary meeting of creditor countries seeking to treat the debt due to them by developing and emerging countries in a coordinated manner. However, although the Paris Club has no legal basis or status, agreements are reached in accordance with a set of rules and principles agreed upon by its members. This way of operating encourages the conclusion of coordinated agreements. In 2008, Paris Club creditors