The document discusses the debt owed by developing or "3rd world" countries to developed or "1st world" countries. It notes that 3rd world countries have historically subsidized 1st world industrialization through cheap raw materials, and that 1st world institutions control commodity prices and the global economy. While 1st world loans are used productively, 3rd world loans arrest development and increase debt. Despite decades of repayments totaling more than the original amounts borrowed, 3rd world debt continues to rise and consume large portions of national budgets, resulting in conditions like unemployment, poverty, and damage to domestic economies. The wiping out of 3rd world debt is presented as the first step toward eliminating poverty globally.

1. 3rd World Debt
Who owes whom??
Based on an article by Fatima Meer:
Sunday Times, 26 June 2005

2. “For centuries, the 3rd World has
subsidised,
supported,
industrialised
& developed the 1st World
at the expense of its own solvency.”
Based on an article by Fatima Meer:
Sunday Times, 26 June 2005

3. Afro-Asian colonies were cheap sources of raw
materials and it was against the interests of
the industrialised north for these countries to
be developed.
Based on an article by Fatima Meer:
Sunday Times, 26 June 2005

4. The World Economy
• is controlled by the finance institutions of the north.
• Prices of world commodities are set and established
in the north, thus controlling the “free market.”
Based on an article by Fatima Meer:
Sunday Times, 26 June 2005

5. Loans
• are necessary in all economies.
• 1st World countries consume by far the greater part of
the world’s capital loans.
• 1st World borrowings are used productively to develop
that world and accumulate profits.
• 3rd World loans arrest development and shackle its
economies to the 1st (because of stringent conditions
attached to these loans).
Based on an article by Fatima Meer:
Sunday Times, 26 June 2005

6. South Africa is spending 12% of its national
budget on servicing debt.
It costs the country more than R50-billion each
year to service debt.
More than R500-billion has thus been paid since
1994 to service debt incurred by the apartheid
regime.
Based on an article by Fatima Meer:
Sunday Times, 26 June 2005

7. Many African countries are expected to
pay more than 20% of their national
budget on servicing debt!
Based on an article by Fatima Meer:
Sunday Times, 26 June 2005

8. In 1972 the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting
Countries (OPEC) raised the price of crude oil by
400% and banked most of their profits in northern
banks.
They in turn seduced the leaders of the 3rd World to
borrow money at 6.1% interest.
This increased to 16% by 1981!
Based on an article by Fatima Meer:
Sunday Times, 26 June 2005

9. 1980 - 2001
In 1980 3rd World debt stood at
$600-billion.
By 2001, repayments of $4.5-trillion had been made
(i.e. 6½ times the capital borrowed),
but the outstanding debt still stood at $2.45-trillion!
(i.e. more than 4 times the original debt).
Based on an article by Fatima Meer:
Sunday Times, 26 June 2005

10. When 1st World financiers are asked to
wipe out 3rd World debt, they are losing
nothing, because the original loans have
been repaid many times over.
Based on an article by Fatima Meer:
Sunday Times, 26 June 2005

11. Bankruptcy!
By the 1980’s many 3rd World countries were bankrupt.
World Bank and IMF rules say countries cannot file for
bankruptcy – so they have to keep paying.
How?
With more loans from the World Bank & IMF!
(Provided they submit to the agencies’ structural adjustment
programmes).
Based on an article by Fatima Meer:
Sunday Times, 26 June 2005

12. As a result,
In these countries. . . . .
Currency is devalued,
Interest-rates rise,
Social-Service spending is reduced or discontinued,
Subsidies are withdrawn,
Workers are retrenched and
Trade & Industry are exposed to foreign competition
(where there are subsidies).
Based on an article by Fatima Meer:
Sunday Times, 26 June 2005

13. The Consequences are:
• Massive unemployment.
• Massive poverty.
• Massive damage to domestic production and
trade.
Based on an article by Fatima Meer:
Sunday Times, 26 June 2005

14. 3.5 billion people (of a total population of 5.7
billion), share 5.6% of the global income.
The richest 10% of the world’s population
consume 60% of the earth’s resources.
Based on an article by Fatima Meer:
Sunday Times, 26 June 2005

15. Quo Vadis?
The wiping out of 3rd World debt is the first step towards
the elimination of poverty.
The second step is the injection of a moral ethos into our
national and international economic arrangements.
The international playing-fields must be levelled and
national fiscal responsibility must become the highest
priority.
Based on an article by Fatima Meer:
Sunday Times, 26 June 2005