Jubilee 2000 basic data on 92 poorest countries, notes and explanations

These two tables give the most recent basic data on the 92 poorest and most indebted countries. Data comes from the UNDP Human Development Report 1999 (HDR) and the World Bank Global Development Finance 1999 (GDF), both published in mid 1999, and the World Bank World Development Report 1998/99 (WDR) published in late 1998. Data is normally for 1997, the most recent year available.

The list includes all countries with a 1997 GDP less than $4500 at purchasing power parity (PPP, see below for definition), plus middle income countries which are “severely” or “moderately” indebted (by World Bank definition). The list excludes Europe and the former USSR, which have a very different range of problems and are not included in Jubilee 2000 campaigns: four countries which do not report their debts to international bodies and for which there is no data (Afghanistan, Cuba, DR Korea, Iraq), and two countries which came to independence in recent years without debt (Namibia and Eritrea). Jubilee 2000 in the UK estimates that approximately 52 of these countries are heavily indebted, highly impoverished and urgently in need of debt relief.

The countries are listed in two ways:

92 countries in alphabetical order [Excel File] [HTML File 400k]

which also includes at the bottom of the page Mexico and South Africa which do not fit the criteria but about which questions are often asked,

and

92 countries grouped by category [Excel File] [HTML File 400k]

which divides the 92 into HIPC (41 countries), Jubilee 2000 (52 countries), other poor, and middle income deeply indebted.

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Definitions

The tables provide the following information:

Population

Gross domestic product (GDP): total output of goods and services, in US dollars at the official exchange rate

GDP per capita at Purchasing Power Parity (PPP): instead of simply converting local currency into dollars at the official exchange rate, the World Bank attempts to estimate the buying power of local currency. This gives a GDP at “purchasing power parity”, which for poor countries is said to be typically 3 or more times the normal GDP at exchange rate parity.

Total debt (EDT, estimated debt - total): the total amount that a country owes (also sometimes called book value or face value). This is the amount of money stated in the contracts, plus all accumulated arrears.

Present value (NPV, net present value): the amount that would have to be deposited in a bank and which, at current interest rates, would just cover all debt service payments as they fall due. For subsidised interest rates (e.g. World Bank IDA loans or aid loans), NPV is less than book value (because money in the bank would earn more interest than is actually being paid); for commercial loans NPV is higher than book value.

Arrears: unpaid interest and principal repayments not made on schedule; these are simply added to the total debt. They form part of the EDT, and countries must pay interest on accumulated arrears.

Aid: this only includes cash grants; it excludes loans and technical assistance.

Debt service paid (TDS, total debt service): the sum of the interest and capital repayments made during 1997, excluding certain extraordinary payments which were not part of normal debt service (note c in the last column).

Debt service due (TDSd): the sum of interest and capital repayments which were due in 1997, as estimated from the GDF 1998 volume 2, corrected to include short term and IMF payments.

% of due actually paid: the ratio of the two preceding items

Per capita debt, debt service due, debt service paid and aid are simply calculated by dividing those figures by population.

Per capita public spending on heath and education come from HDR 99, with Jubilee 2000 estimates where figures are not available (note d in the last column)

Exports of goods and services (XGS)

Trade surplus: where exports are larger than imports of goods and services.

(Under the 1953 London agreement, Germany only had to pay debt service if it had a trade surplus.)

Debt service percentages: Debt service due and paid as % of both GDP and exports (XGS). (Under HIPC, a debt is sustainable if debt service is less than 20% of XGS; under the London agreement, Germany paid debt service of 3.5% of XGS and 0.4% of GDP.)

Categories:

• HIPC countries are defined by the World Bank and IMF and change over time (Malawi has been added and Nigeria deleted), currently 41 countries
• Jubilee 2000 countries - Jubilee 2000 in the UK estimates that approximately 52 of these countries are heavily indebted, highly impoverished and urgently in need of debt relief.
• GDP at purchasing power parity comes from the HDR, income and indebtedness levels are as defined by the World Bank, and
• the human development index is defined and calculated by UNDP in the HDR and the rank gives a country's standing out of 174 countries (Sierra Leone is lowest, Canada is highest).

The table was compiled by Joseph Hanlon, policy advisor of Jubilee 2000.