will you get debt relief if you are poor, and have a huge tsunami on your shores

An increasing number of countries are calling for debt relief for tsunami stricken countries - by way of a debt repayment freeze. The debt relief call started when UK Chancellor Gordon Brown called on all rich countries to "take the final historic step in delivering full debt relief" in 2005. This is the first time any G8 leader anywhere at any time has called for full debt relief.

Australia is not calling for debt relief, as John Howard does not believe that the so called $3,000,000 saved in debt repayments ( well, for Indonesia at least) will end up in aid. However the G8 has called on institutions such as the IMF and World bank to consider the victim nation's needs. Last year Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Thailand paid out $20bn on debt repayment

Australia is a member of the Paris Club - which includes Austria, Belgium, Britain, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States. The Paris club will agree tomorrow on a moratorium on debt repayments for countries hit by the tsunami, yet Australia is the largest and most public nation not to agree on the moratorium. Maybe John Howard is taking note of rating agency Standard & Poor's who said Indonesia had the resources to service both its domestic and foreign debt, despite the tsunami.

None of the tsunami aid given by Australia is to go to the UN, or on debt relief. Most of it is to go to Indonesia where more than 107,000 people have died. About 30,000 people die from poverty every day - so in just over 5 days time the amount of people who die from poverty will equal the amount killed in the tsunami tragedy - and nobody will blink an eyelid over here. Who is going to assist people in those countries?

Is death any worse because it is as a result of a tsunami? The United Nations seems to think so because the cameras and the world's leaders are still there. The death toll a few days ago was 104,000, today it is 156,000 and rising.

Interestingly, the total aid pledged by the US government at the start of this week was less than what it spends in a day and a half on the war and military occupation in Iraq. Tony Blair’s government has promised only five and half days of its Iraq war spending. All right, this salient point is near the bottom but some may think it is the most important paragraph in this posting.

It is important to note that the any freeze is for bilateral debt only, not multilateral debt. A moratorium is not the answer, debt relief is needed as well.

Total external debts of countries hit by the tsunami:
Bangladesh - $17 billion
Burma (Myanmar) - $6.6 billion
India - $104 billion
Indonesia – $132 billion
Kenya - $6 billion
Malaysia –$48.6 billion
Maldives – $270 million
Seychelles - $253 million
Somalia – $2.7 billion
Sri Lanka - $9.6 billion
Tanzania - $7.2 billion
Thailand – $59.2 billion
(Figures from World Bank, World Development Indicators 2004)