Burundi’s recent past has involved an ongoing struggle. With a population nearly twice the size of Scotland and a country only 1/3 of the size, the country is densely populated with extremely high rates of poverty and food insecurity. Lesser known than the genocide in neighbouring Rwanda, Burundi has suffered greatly from civil conflict, influenced by rigid ethnic classification imposed during the colonial period. An estimated 300,000 Burundians were killed during the civil war that lasted over a decade.

With the third lowest Human Development Index rating in the world and a huge 67% of the population under the poverty line, the country is still repaying US$3.36 million annually in debt servicing to the rich world. Although the country completed the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative in 2009 and had over US$1 billion of its huge debt burden cancelled it has remained at a consistently high risk of debt distress since cancellation.

Ethiopia had consistently high external debt levels over previous decades up until it reached completion of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative in 2004, and Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative in 2005, having over US$1.3 billion cancelled. The cancellation reduced the unpayable debt burden allowing an increased spending of 10% on education and healthcare. However, particularly since the financial crisis, Ethiopia has taken out US$5.6 billion in external loans and the debt burden has expanded to US$8.292 billion. Ethiopia’s debt is now larger than before the HIPC cancellation and once more seems unsustainable.

Along with most countries in the global South, Ghana’s debt steadily increased from the 1970’s when lending became a prominent tool in development. In the face of an unpayable debt burden, Ghana opted for the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative in 2001, several years after qualifying. Through this scheme Ghana had US$1.1 billion cancelled in 2004, completing the requirements for relief quickly in relation to many other HIPC nations.

Qualifying for the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative, Ghana’s debt stocks were reduced by half to $3.6 billion in 2006. Since then, over just 5 years, the countries external debt has ballooned to over $11 billion, a much higher figure than before cancellation. With Ghana’s economy also increasing, this debt is considered to be sustainable, however, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) state that there is a moderate risk that “unproductive spending could easily derail the debt dynamics onto an unsustainable path”. Having been recently classified as a middle income country, Ghana will not be eligible for any further debt relief in the future.

Kenya currently spends over US$398 million in debt repayments annually and owes countries in the rich world a total of US$8.4 billion. Kenya’s external debt amounts to more than its expenditure on health and education combined. Despite this, and repeated appeals to financial officials, Kenya has not qualified for any debt relief and international bodies consider its external debt to be ‘sustainable’.

As a result of a highly unsustainable debt burden, Malawi qualified as one of 38 Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) in 2000, completing the IMF initiative in 2006. From the 1970s, large amounts were loaned to Malawi by International Financial Institutions (IFIs), western banks, and governments, leading to a huge debt burden with over US$100 million leaving Malawi in repayments each year over the 1980s and 1990s. With such unsustainably high debt, HIPC was welcomed as a way out, but strict conditions delayed debt relief by six years. During this time the country had one of its worst famines with over 1000 people dying from starvation, whilst over $440 million was paid to the West in debt repayments.

Eventually Malawi was approved for HIPC completion, saving an estimated US$110 million each year which could then be spent on improving facilities including education, healthcare and agriculture. Since 2006 Malawi’s debt has increased once more and is now equal to over 50% of its GDP.

In the wake of the Rwandan genocide in 1994, the country was left with a huge debt burden equivalent to 126% of the countries Gross Domestic Product, and a decimated economic state. In 2000, Rwanda entered into the Heavily Indebted Poor Country initiative (HIPC). US$1.4 billion of the country’s debt was cancelled upon HIPC completion in 2005, saving Rwanda approximately US$48 million annually in debt repayments.

With an unpayable debt burden, Tanzania qualified for the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative, having US$488 million of its total debt cancelled in 2001 and a further $4.4 billion in 2006 with the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative. This cancellation vastly reduced the countries debt burden from around 70% of GDP to 15%. However, since the cancellation, the debt burden has steadily increased, now reaching US$10.33 billion, over 40% of Tanzania’s GDP.

Uganda’s debt accumulated from the 1970s onwards. Despite large loans, the majority of Ugandans saw little benefits from the money and a few private pockets were the best serviced. As the first country to complete the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative in 2000, Uganda was seen as a flagship for economic growth and good governance. In reality, as the guinea pig of the programme Uganda’s gains were limited and their debt burden only decreased by a negligible amount. It was not until 2006, when the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative came into force that the benefits were felt with the debt burden falling from US$4.5 billion in 2005 to US$1.1 billion in 2007.

With International Financial Institutions (IFI) encouragement, as conditions of both the loans and debt cancellation, free market policies were implemented in Uganda. This included privatisation and trade liberalisation which gave the advantage to those with corporate interests and the beneficial impacts have not filtered down to wider population. These policies have not been beneficial for sustainable development or poverty reduction.