7
The Third World Debt Crisis
in the 1980s and 1990s
What was the origin of the crisis that began in August 1982?
Why did the North's private banks, the IMF, World Bank and the
governments of the most industrialised countries encourage the
countries of the South to take on so much debt?
Were they aware of the impending dangers?
How did the private banks deal with the crisis?
How did the IMF and World Bank grow stronger even though the
crisis could well have weakened them?
Why did the South's governments and companies take on so much
debt? Was there a valid reason or were they simply corrupt and
thirsting recklessly for short-term profit and personal enrichment?
Is the South really paying back its debts?
In the 1930s, 14 Latin American countries - including the most
powerful ones - unilaterally suspended foreign debt payments. Why
have the countries of the Third World not followed their example this
time?
Why have most, if not all, governments of the South agreed to pay
off debts for which they are very often not responsible? Do they have
a vested interest in doing so, or rather is there no other choice?
What does interest (rent) payment on borrowed money represent?
Is it merely another way in which wealth is transferred from the
South to the North? Or rather, are things more complex? Is it a
transfer of the surplus produced by workers and small producers in
the South to the holders of capital in the North and South, with the
South's governments picking up a commission in the process?
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