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Does Lower Debt Buy Higher Growth? The Impact of Debt Relief Initiatives on Growth

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  • Ms. Sandra Marcelino
  • Ms. Ivetta Hakobyan

Abstract

In 1996, the IMF and the World Bank introduced the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative—a comprehensive debt relief program aimed at reducing the external debt burden of eligible countries to sustainable levels, provided they carry out strong programs of macroeconomic adjustment and structural reforms designed to promote growth and reduce poverty. Now that the HIPC Initiative is nearly completed, this paper investigates whether the initiative managed to spur growth, either directly or indirectly through investment. In contrast to earlier studies, we conclude that there is some evidence of positive effects of the HIPC Initiative on growth. Such evidence suggests that the HIPC Initiative and MDRI have helped HIPC-eligible countries to reach higher growth, but it remains unclear whether this is through higher investment or another channel. Also, the analysis illustrates that it is hard to disentangle pure debt-relief effects from other concurrent factors.

Suggested Citation

  • Ms. Sandra Marcelino & Ms. Ivetta Hakobyan, 2014. "Does Lower Debt Buy Higher Growth? The Impact of Debt Relief Initiatives on Growth," IMF Working Papers 2014/230, International Monetary Fund.
    • Handle: RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2014/230
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    2. Marin Ferry & Marc Raffinot, 2019. "Curse or Blessing? Has the Impact of Debt Relief Lived up to Expectations? A Review of the Effects of the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiatives for Low-Income Countries," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(9), pages 1867-1891, September.
    3. Marin Ferry, 2021. "Quel bilan tirer des initiatives d'annulation de la dette des pays pauvres très endettés ?," Revue d'économie financière, Association d'économie financière, vol. 0(1), pages 225-240.
    4. Welander, Anna, 2016. "Does Debt Relief Improve Child Health? Evidence from Cross-Country Micro Data," Working Papers 2016:29, Lund University, Department of Economics.
    5. José Augusto Lopes da Veiga & Alexandra Ferreira-Lopes & Tiago Neves Sequeira, 2016. "Public Debt, Economic Growth and Inflation in African Economies," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 84(2), pages 294-322, June.
    6. Djimeu, Eric W., 2018. "The impact of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative on growth and investment in Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 108-127.
    7. Mauro Lanati & Rainer Thiele, 2020. "Foreign assistance and emigration: Accounting for the role of non‐transferred aid," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(7), pages 1951-1976, July.
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    9. Aruna Gounder & Priteshni Chand & Avineel Kumar, 2024. "Government Debt and Foreign Aid: Do They Matter for Economic Growth in Small Island Economies? Empirical Evidence from the Pacific Islands," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(2), pages 8327-8348, June.
    10. Constance de Soyres & Anna Rogantini Picco & Miss Randa Sab, 2019. "Debt Build-up in Frontier Low-Income Developing Countries (LIDCs) since 2012: Global or Country-specific Factors and Way Forward?," IMF Working Papers 2019/037, International Monetary Fund.
    11. Maximilien Kaffo Melou & Mariusz A. Sumlinski & Chris Geiregat, 2014. "An Application of the "Fan-Chart Approach" to Debt Sustainability in Post-HIPC Low-Income Countries," IMF Working Papers 2014/102, International Monetary Fund.

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