United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2004-04-20 monographic deposited born digital 19 p. GA 1.13:GAO-04-688T https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-04-688T P0b002ee180386253 f:d04688t DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-24 GAOREPORTS-GAO-04-688T machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-GAO-04-688T GAO-04-688T Debt Developing countries Economic growth Exporting Foreign economic assistance Future budget projections International cooperation International relations Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative Testimony A09835 The Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative, established in 1996, is a bilateral and multilateral effort to provide debt relief to poor countries to help them achieve economic growth and debt sustainability. Multilateral creditors are having difficulty financing their share of the initiative, even with assistance from donors. Under the existing initiative, many countries are unlikely to achieve their debt relief targets, primarily because their export earnings are likely to be significantly less than projected by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF). In a recently issued report, GAO assessed (1) the projected multilateral development banks' funding shortfall for the existing initiative and (2) the amount of funding, including development assistance, needed to help countries achieve economic growth and debt relief targets. The Treasury, World Bank, and African Development Bank commented that historical export growth rates are not good predictors of the future because significant structural changes are under way in many countries that could lead to greater growth. We consider these historical rates to be a more realistic gauge of future growth because of these countries' reliance on highly volatile primary commodities and other vulnerabilities such as HIV/AIDS. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-04-688T/html/GAOREPORTS-GAO-04-688T.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-04-688T/pdf/GAOREPORTS-GAO-04-688T.pdf GAO-04-688T https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-04-688T Testimony GAO-04-688T; Developing Countries: Challenges in Financing Poor Countries' Economic Growth and Debt Relief Targets; Debt Developing countries Economic growth Exporting Foreign economic assistance Future budget projections International cooperation International relations Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative