The rapid response information series for schools
on development issues in the news
These figures are for
1991. They show how much debt each of six regions of the world
owe, as a percentage of their Gross National Product. In other
words, the figures show how much money each region owed to
someone else, out of all the income of all the countries in that
region. This debt is owed to groups such as foreign banks or
governments.
| Latin America |
41% |
| Europe and Central
Asia |
26% |
| Middle East and
North Africa |
58% |
| Sub-Saharan Africa |
110% |
| South Asia |
34% |
| East Asia and
Pacific |
28% |
- According to the figures, which
region could never repay its debt, even if it spent its
entire income on nothing but debts?
- Many Southerners (people from the
Third World) believe that the reckoning of debt does not
go back far enough in time. In the recent past many
Southern countries were colonies. This means they were
taken over and run by other countries, usually European
countries. During this time the ruling countries took a
lot of money out of their colonies. Now many Southerners
are asking "Who owes the
debt to whom?" What do
you think they mean?
Adapted from "Colonialism
and It's Legacy " which is Book
2 in theSouthern
Perspectives on Development
series for secondary schools produced by:
Development Education Project,
801 Wilmslow Road,
Didsbury, Manchester M20 2QR.Tel: (44) 161-445-2495. Fax:
(44)161-445-2360
depman@gn.apc.org
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