This sharp devaluation increased further the cost of debt servicing and the debt to GDP ratio.

In 2004 the ratio of debt servicing to exports was 10.0 per cent (see figure below).

Debt service ratio

Region Debt export ratio

Servicing of external public debt

External debt and debt servicing costs had also risen.

Although Mexico s traditional debt indicators appeared sustainable, with moderate ratios of debt service, debt stock to exports and interest payments to exports (a ratio similar to the debt service ratio), the ratio of short term debt to reserves amounted to 131 per cent in 1997 (the ratio was much higher in 1996).

36. Africa s external debt burden is the highest among developing countries in terms of the ratio of external debt to GDP and its debt service ratio.

The debt indicators show what would be expected to be a sustainable debt position.1 The debt service ratio measured 13 per cent, the debt stock to exports ratio 114 per cent, the debt stock to GNP ratio 31 per cent, and short term debt to foreign exchange reserves ratio 53 per cent as noted, however, those figures obscure diverse trends at the country level.

Debt servicing payments contribute to poverty when public revenue is diverted from productive sector expenditure, such as education, health and physical infrastructure to debt servicing.

Payment for debt servicing represents a negative flow of resources.

1 It is generally recognized that a ratio of debt to exports exceeding 200 per cent and a ratio of debt service to exports exceeding 20 per cent would signal serious debt problems.

Nevertheless, external debt and debt servicing problems persisted, particularly in the poorest and heavily indebted countries.

This led to increased concern about the levels of internal debt and total debt and the implications for servicing the debt.

The debt service ratio for those countries has generally remained below the 20 per cent threshold that warns of debt servicing difficulty, but that has often been the result of important accumulation of arrears, which has itself developed into a problem in some cases.

Nevertheless, external debt and debt servicing problems have persisted, particularly for the poorest and most heavily indebted countries.

There was a need for effective, equitable, durable and development oriented solutions to external debt and debt servicing problems.

Indeed, nearly a third of our financial resources are devoted to debt servicing.

Debt servicing problems of middle income countries should continue to be addressed effectively.

However, because of improved economic performance in the debtor countries, the overall ratio of debt to exports and the ratio of external debt to gross domestic product had declined to their lowest levels since the onset of the debt crisis.

Despite those increasingly generous terms, the overall reduction in debt servicing had been less than the debt relief ratios indicated.

52. Effective, fair, and lasting solutions must be found for the external debt and debt servicing problems of developing countries.

All of the previous speakers had mentioned the external debt and debt servicing as one of the root causes of underdevelopment.

Latin American debt indicators generally indicated a sustainable debt position for the region as a whole, with a debt service ratio of 12 per cent, debt stock to exports and to GNP ratios of 103 per cent and 43 per cent respectively, and a short term debt to reserves ratio of 71 per cent.

A public debt crisis in Japan (as the combination of recession, deflation, and high deficits drove up the debt GDP ratio).

The ratio of short term debt to reserves indicated no short term liquidity difficulty.

In order to make the net debt reduction sufficiently large, however, the HIPC initiative requires deep reductions in the debt servicing owed to bilateral official creditors, which some creditor countries have resisted, and it introduces special processes for reducing the servicing of multilateral debt.

Of particular concern is the increasing share of multilateral obligations in the overall debt stock and debt servicing of least developed countries.

Three factors had been taken into account debt service to export ratio (in the range of 20 25 per cent), the ratio of the current value of debt to export (200 250 per cent) and vulnerability.

The debt servicing burden therefore continued to be one of Nicaragua apos s main problems.

This could affect the assessment of the government s debt servicing capacity and foreign assistance requirements.

Unlike other Latin American, Caribbean and Central American countries, Guatemala's external debt situation is stable, with normal debt servicing loads and external debt indicators in the moderate range.

As a group, those countries debt burden remains severe, with a debt stock to export ratio of well over 300 per cent (far above the 200 per cent threshold used to indicate a debt overhang) and a debt stock to GNP ratio of 127 per cent in 1996 after several years of improvement.

(v) systematically link debt repayment and debt servicing by commodity dependent developing countries to adverse movements in prices of commodity exports and imports

We would like to express our gratitude to those donor countries which have provided debt and debt servicing relief to the affected countries.

Noting the situation in some creditor countries with economies in transition in addressing the external debt and debt servicing problems of developing countries,

Noting the situation in some creditor countries with economies in transition in addressing the external debt and debt servicing problems of developing countries,

Debt and debt servicing are steadily impoverishing the peoples concerned more and more every day, systematically preventing them from exercising their basic rights.

2. Debt service problems of middle and low income countries High social cost incurred in the efforts to fulfil commitments on debt servicing

Thus debt service is a significant item in affecting net resource flows to Africa, and Africa s debt servicing difficulties have long been recognized.

40. In considering this element of the scale, the Committee had before it information obtained from the World Bank on debt stock, principal repayments, the ratio of debt to national income and the ratio of debt service to export earnings for a number of Member States.

Target ranges for sustainable debt levels have initially been defined by the Bretton Woods institutions as 200 to 250 per cent for the debt to exports ratio expressed in present value terms, and as 20 to 25 per cent for the debt service to exports ratio.

For Argentina, the ratio of interest payments to exports was 21 per cent and the ratio of external debt to exports 313 per cent in 1997.

Concerned that many developing countries continue to struggle for a durable solution to their serious debt problems, where continuing debt and debt servicing obligations adversely affect their sustainable development,

In some countries, debt servicing has strained valuable resources that could otherwise be channelled to development.