ABSTRACT
We have a daunting task, since the burden of debt is not one from which the poorer countries will be liberated by their own efforts alone, or by any self-balancing mechanism in world trade. The situation of most low-income countries is like that of an absent minded man who has lost his bathplug. As the water gurgles down the plughole in the form of principal and interest payments, the two taps marked grants and new loans are turned on to keep the bath filled at a rather unsatisfactory level to wash in, while the bill with the water company goes up and up. There must be more intelligent ways to help Africa and other poorer nations!
