Notification

The escalation of violence in Gaza and Israel is leaving people in Gaza in urgent need of humanitarian support. Please donate now.

Available documents

Overview

The debt crisis has its origins in the 1970s and 1980s, when rich governments and companies lent huge sums to developing countries, often knowingly to corrupt regimes and to serve their own political or commercial ends. Whilst there have been major steps forward in cancelling debt, in response to campaigner pressure, the rich world has still not taken full responsibility for these ‘illegitimate’ debts and the ensuing debt crisis. On the contrary, as debt burdens grew over the last 30 years, creditors told impoverished countries to cut their public spending in order to ‘balance the books’ and keep up with debt payments. Today, debt drains poor countries of resources that could otherwise be spent on vital public services. Where debt has been cancelled, countries have invested in public services, extending healthcare, education, water, sanitation and electricity to millions more people.

Additional details

Publisher(s)

How to cite this resource

Citation styles vary so we recommend you check what is appropriate for your context.  You may choose to cite Oxfam resources as follows:

Author(s)/Editor(s). (Year of publication). Title and sub-title. Place of publication: name of publisher. DOI (where available). URL

Our FAQs page has some examples of this approach.

Related resources

Here are similar items you might be interested in.

Browse all resources