Debt Audits and the Repudiation of Odious Debts
- Association of Concerned Africa Scholars Geneva 2012
- 6p.
- 2012. .
African countries continue to rely on external borrowing to fill their resource gaps in financing development. By 2010, the total stock of external debt outstanding for the continent stood at $297 billion and its annual debt service bill was $22 billion. To the extent that debts are used for productive purposes, the direct and indirect returns for the debt-financed investments should enable the debtor countries to honor their debt obligations. In practice, however, foreign loans are often either squandered on ill-designed projects or even worse embezzled to finance private wealth accumulation in offshore centers.
