Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Foreword -- Executive Summary -- Acronyms and Abbreviations -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Delivery of Debt Relief -- 3 Prospects for Debt Sustainability -- 4 Policy Performance and Poverty Reduction -- 5 Findings -- Appendixes -- A: Guide to the HIPC Initiative -- B: Extensions of the Deadline for HIPC Eligibility, 1998-2004 -- C: Country Groupings -- D: Comparison of Economic Projections to Historical Trends -- E: Debt Indicators and Sustainability Assessments in Eight Post-Completion-Point Countries -- F: Countries with Macroeconomic Slippages or Delays Since Completion Point -- G: Achievement and Waivers of Completion Point Conditions -- H: Measures of Policy Performance -- I: Performance on Governance Indicators -- J: Titles for Further Reading -- Endnotes -- References -- Boxes -- 1.1 Findings from the 2003 Evaluation -- 1.2 Findings from the 2003 Evaluation: Objectives and Design -- 2.1 Findings from the 2003 Evaluation: Debt Relief Commitment and Additionality -- 3.1 Findings from the 2003 Evaluation: Debt Sustainability Analyses -- 3.2 Findings from the 2003 Evaluation: Debt Sustainability Prospects -- 3.3 Export Diversification, Highly Concessional Financing, and Prudent Debt Management Are Keys to Long-Term Debt Sustainabil -- 4.1 Findings from the 2003 Evaluation: Maintaining Policy Performance -- 4.2 Poverty Focus of National Strategies Has Improved, but Better Customization Is Needed -- Tables -- 1.1 Status of Countries under the Enhanced HIPC Initiative, February 2006 -- 3.1 New DSAs for Low-Income Countries Use Flexible Benchmarks While HIPC DSAs Use Uniform Thresholds -- 3.2 Projections Exceed Historical and Actual Growth Rates -- 3.3 Post-Completion-Point Countries' Debt Ratios Have Regressed -- 4.1 Post-Completion-Point Countries Had the Fastest Growth in Recent Years.

4.2 Most HIPC Countries Require Substantial Upgrading in Public Expenditure Management -- 4.3 Post-Completion-Point Countries: Modest Progress on MDGs, but Data Are Limited -- Figures -- 2.1 Creditors' Commitments to HIPC Debt Relief -- 2.2 Net Transfers to HIPC Countries Have Increased Since 2000 -- 2.3 HIPCs' Share of Aid Keeps Growing -- 3.1 More Recent Projections Are Less Optimistic -- 3.2 Why Have Post-Completion-Point Debt Ratios Risen? -- 3.3 Five Countries Are Projected to Exceed the 150 Percent Threshold of Debt to Exports Beyond Completion Point -- 3.4 Guyana Is Projected to Exceed 250 Percent Threshold of Debt to Revenues Beyond Completion Point -- 4.1 All IDA-Only Countries Have Improved Since 1999, and Post-Completion-Point Countries Score Highest -- 4.2 Countries Not Yet at Decision Point Have the Worst Governance Indicators of All Low-Income Countries -- 4.3 Decision-Point Countries Have Worse Economic Performance Now Than in 2001 -- 4.4 Debt Service and Management Capacity Have Worsened in All Low-Income Countries -- 4.5 Spending on Education as a Share of GDP Has Increased Significantly in Five HIPC Countries -- 4.6 Spending on Education as a Share of Government Expenditures Has Increased Significantly in Five HIPC Countries.

This study evaluates progress under the HIPC initiative since IEG's 2003 evaluation. It finds that the Enhanced HIPC initiative cut debt ratios in half for 18 countries, but in eight of these countries, the ratios have come to once again exceed HIPC thresholds. Debt reduction alone is not a sufficient instrument to affect the multiple drivers of debt sustainability. Sustained improvements in export diversification, fiscal management, the terms of new financing, and public debt management are also needed, measures that fall outside the ambit of the HIPC initiative.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2018. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.