Why does Iraq get a break?

last updated 8 January 2015

Lusaka, Zambia

Zambia’s vice president called this week for international institutions to forgive his country’s debt. Nevers Mumba said his country, like the rest of the continent, had spent several decades “wallowing in poverty and economic stagnation,” adding, “Africa needs a jump-start.” The debt-relief organization Jubilee said it was unfair that Iraq’s debts were to be forgiven, while Africa must continue to pay crippling interest year after year. Iraq owes $116 billion, mostly to countries like Russia and France. African countries together owe $300 billion, mainly to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Those institutions are reluctant to forgive debt because, they say, it would compromise their ability to lend to others.