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Britain's Export Credit Guarantee Department is fuelling climate change, human rights abuses and third world debt. It's time for change. Read more

Debt

“The ECGD is a debt collector for British corporations” George Monbiot, Guardian columnist

Many Southern countries are still ‘repaying’ hundreds of billions of dollars of debts to the rich world every year. This debt is all too often based on loans that were unjust – lent to dictatorial regimes, for useless or damaging projects, at extortionate rates of interest or shrouded in corruption.

The vast majority of Southern country debt ‘owed’ to the UK Government – a whopping 95% – stems from deals done by the ECGD. Over £2 billion is owed by Southern countries to the ECGD,  while £2.3 billion has been paid to the ECGD by Southern countries since 2000. This is money which impoverished countries could be spending on education and healthcare and more general economic development.

Essentially the ECGD backs debt to Southern companies and countries. Sometimes these debts are paid quickly, but on other occasions they become a long-term burden – as they currently are to countries like Kenya, Indonesia, Vietnam, Iraq, Egypt and Sudan. In some instances, these debts have been weighing countries down since the late 1970s.

The Indonesian people are still paying the UK for weapons sold to brutal dictator President Suharto (Photo: Government of Indonesia)

ECGD’s debts are often deeply unjust. Indonesia is still paying a debt run up when the UK sold arms to the brutal dictator General Suharto. Egypt, Iraq and Sudan are all repaying debts run-up by authoritarian regimes. Sudan’s debt is now 90% interest charges.

When the ECGD demands that a Southern country Government foots one of these unpaid bills it is asking the people of that country to pay for their own oppression.

Currently the British Government won’t even tell us how many of the ECGD debts were run up. Claiming both that they don’t have the records, and that they have too many records to look through, we don’t even know why these countries are paying this money to the ECGD.

What are we calling for?

To deliver debt justice and end the debt burnden we’re calling on the ECGD to:

  • Audit all outstanding debts it is owed and cancel those found to be unjust
  • Adopt a prohibitions list of activities that will not be supported by the ECGD
  • Stop the conversion of failed exports into developing world debt

To see our full recommendations see the network’s manifesto

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