UK Chancellor visits major donor
-23/05/06
UK Chancellor Gordon Brown has addressed a
UK Chancellor visits major donor
-23/05/06
UK Chancellor Gordon Brown has addressed a conference on Financing for Development in Nigeria, amidst suggestions that the UK Government is making a profit from recent debt deals involving the country.
By the end of this month the UK government will have received from Nigeria 3 billion US dollars ñ approximately £1.7 billion ñ in 2006, as a result of the second instalment of Nigeriaís down payment for its debt deal reaching the UK Exchequer.
The Nigerian government has said that it needs an additional 5 to 7 billion US dollars a year if it is to meet the Millennium Development Goals.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu has joined thousands of UK debt campaigners in urging the UK government to use its unexpected windfall of cash from Nigeria to make a significant difference for some of the worldís poorest people.
The 12.4 billion USD (£7.2 billion) that Nigeria has paid to wealthy countries in six months is more than the 2005 Gleneagles G8 debt deal will deliver to poor countries in a decade.
The 3 billion USD (£1.7 billion) that Nigeria has paid to the UK in six months is twice as much as the UK Department for International Development gave to the whole of Africa in 2005.
Last year Jubilee Debt Campaign published a report ëIn the Balanceí, showing that over 60 countries need total debt cancellation if they are to be able to finance meeting the Millennium Development Goals.
Trisha Rogers, Jubilee Debt Campaign Director, said ìWe have congratulated Gordon Brown on taking a lead on debt. But we did not anticipate that the UK would end up in profit from the 2005 focus on Africa. We call on the UK government to return this money to Nigeria. We continue to call on the UK government to match its rhetoric on financing African development with new commitments on aid and debt that will save lives and give desperately needy people new hope.î
Jubilee Debt Campaign has welcomed the progress made on debt in 2005, but has consistently pointed out that it falls far short of what governments themselves have indicated is needed if goals for combating poverty are to be met. If development is to financed, then many more countries need many more debts cancelled under a fair and transparent process.
A detailed briefing on the Nigeria debt deal ëJustice for Nigeriaí can be found here
UK Chancellor visits major donor
-23/05/06
UK Chancellor Gordon Brown has addressed a conference on Financing for Development in Nigeria, amidst suggestions that the UK Government is making a profit from recent debt deals involving the country.
By the end of this month the UK government will have received from Nigeria 3 billion US dollars ñ approximately £1.7 billion ñ in 2006, as a result of the second instalment of Nigeriaís down payment for its debt deal reaching the UK Exchequer.
The Nigerian government has said that it needs an additional 5 to 7 billion US dollars a year if it is to meet the Millennium Development Goals.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu has joined thousands of UK debt campaigners in urging the UK government to use its unexpected windfall of cash from Nigeria to make a significant difference for some of the worldís poorest people.
The 12.4 billion USD (£7.2 billion) that Nigeria has paid to wealthy countries in six months is more than the 2005 Gleneagles G8 debt deal will deliver to poor countries in a decade.
The 3 billion USD (£1.7 billion) that Nigeria has paid to the UK in six months is twice as much as the UK Department for International Development gave to the whole of Africa in 2005.
Last year Jubilee Debt Campaign published a report ëIn the Balanceí, showing that over 60 countries need total debt cancellation if they are to be able to finance meeting the Millennium Development Goals.
Trisha Rogers, Jubilee Debt Campaign Director, said ìWe have congratulated Gordon Brown on taking a lead on debt. But we did not anticipate that the UK would end up in profit from the 2005 focus on Africa. We call on the UK government to return this money to Nigeria. We continue to call on the UK government to match its rhetoric on financing African development with new commitments on aid and debt that will save lives and give desperately needy people new hope.î
Jubilee Debt Campaign has welcomed the progress made on debt in 2005, but has consistently pointed out that it falls far short of what governments themselves have indicated is needed if goals for combating poverty are to be met. If development is to financed, then many more countries need many more debts cancelled under a fair and transparent process.
A detailed briefing on the Nigeria debt deal ëJustice for Nigeriaí can be found here