Paris Club

In green, the twenty countries permanent members of the Paris Club: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, the Russian Federation, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States of America

The Paris Club (Template:Lang-fr) is an informal group of officials creditors whose role is to find coordinated and sustainable solutions to the payment difficulties experienced by debtor countries. As debtor countries undertake reforms to stabilize and restore their macroeconomic and financial situation, Paris Club creditors provide an appropriate debt treatment. Paris Club creditors provide debt treatments to debtor countries in the form of rescheduling, which is debt relief by postponement or, in the case of concessional rescheduling, reduction in debt service obligations during a defined period (flow treatment) or as of a set date (stock treatment).

The Paris Club was created gradually from 1956, when the first negotiation between Argentina and its public creditors took place in Paris. The Paris Club treats public claims, that is to say, those due by governments of debtor countries and by the private sector, guaranteed by the public sector to Paris Club members. A similar process occurs for public debt held by private creditors in the London Club, which was organized in 1970 on the model of the Paris Club is an informal group of commercial banks meet to renegotiate the debt they hold on sovereign debtors.

Creditor countries meet ten times a year in Paris for Tour d'Horizon and negotiating sessions, chaired by the Director of the General Directorate of the Treasury of the French Ministry of Finance and Public Accounts.

Since 1983 and until May 2014, the Paris Club has signed more than 430 agreements covering 90 debtor countries over 583 billion of dollars.

History

After the first meeting of the Paris Club in 1956, the treatment of sovereign debt held by official bilateral creditors has long presented as simple ad hoc international meetings bringing together the creditor states.

The establishment of the secretariat at the end of the 1970s devoted a certain institutionalization of the Paris Club, giving it a continuing basis. The establishment of "methodological sessions" and meetings called "tour d'horizon" separate negotiations in the early 1980s continued the formalization of procedures of the Paris Club, as part of the deepening of North-South dialogue.

Russia is a permanent member since September 17, 1997. The State of Israel is a permanent member since June 24, 2014.

Organisation

The Secretariat

The Secretariat was established to prepare more effectively negotiating sessions, especially so as to meet the growing needs posed by the large number of negotiations. The Secretariat is composed of a dozen people from the Treasury of the French Ministry of Finance and Public Accounts.

The Secretariat role is primarily to safeguard the common interests of creditors governments participating in the Club, and to facilitate the reaching of a consensus between them each level of the discussions. To achieve this, the Secretariat prepares negotiating sessions.

In the early stages of discussions, the Secretariat analyses the debtor country's payment capacity and provides to creditors a first proposal for a treatment. This proposal is discussed by the creditors (whose positions during the negotiation are transcribed in the so-called "magic table"). The Secretariat is also responsible for drafting the minutes of negotiation.

The Secretariat also helps to ensure compliance with the various covenants contained in the minutes and maintains external relations with third States creditors and commercial banks, in particular to ensure the greatest possible respect of comparability clause treatment.

The Chair

Since 1956, the Presidency of the Paris Club is ensured by the French Treasury.

The Chairman of the Paris Club is Bruno Bézard, Director General of the French Treasury. The co-Chairman is the head of the Department of Multilateral Affairs and Development Treasury (Anthony Requin). The Vice-Chairman is the Deputy in charge of Multilateral Financial Affairs and Development at the Treasury (Arnaud BUISSE). One of these three co-Chairmen must chair every meeting of the Paris Club.

In particular, during negotiation sessions, the Chairman of the Paris Club plays the role of intermediary between creditors, who elaborate debt treatment proposals, and the representative of the debtor country, usually the Minister of Finance. He is responsible for submitting to the debtor's delegation terms agreed upon by creditors. If the debtor - which is common - refuses the first offer of creditors, the actual negotiation begins, the Chairman acting as a shuttle between the debtor and creditors.

The negotiation ends with the signing of the minutes.

Organizational Structure

Tour d'horizon sessions

Each month, Paris Club creditors gather for a day during a Tour d'Horizon. Delegations from 20 member countries of the Paris Club are present. They take stock of the situation of debtor countries who could seek debt treatment in the medium term or of the status of implementation of previous agreements. Most Tours d'Horizon end with the study of methodological issues, the purely informal practice of the Paris Club imposing a permanent work by creditors to define the methods and rules to be used for the definition of Paris Club treatments.

Wo are the members of the Paris Club?

Permanent members: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, the Russian Federation, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.

All creditors of the Paris Club members participate in Tour d'horizon and may apply to be observers during a negotiation, even if they do not hold claims on the country. Similarly, when reschedulable claims of creditors of the Paris Club are less than a threshold called de minimis, they may participate in meetings as observers even if their claims are not rescheduled.

In general the delegations of creditors are led by a senior delegate from the Ministry of Finance (with exceptions, the United States delegation is led by arepresentative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs). The debtor is represented by the Minister of Finance (which reflects the importance that debtor countries attach to the final agreed minutes).

Ah Hoc Participants

Other official creditors can also actively participate in negotiation sessions or in monthly "Tours d'Horizon" discussions, subject to the agreement of permanent members and of the debtor country. When participating in Paris Club discussions, invited creditors act in good faith and abide by the practices described below. The following creditors have participated in some Paris Club agreements or Tours d'Horizon in an ad hoc manner: Abu Dhabi, Argentina, Brazil, People's Bank of China, Korea, Kuweit, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Portugal, South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey.

	Ad Hoc Participant	Prospective Member	Full Member
Description	Invited on a case-by-case basis to join on a country-specific discussion and/or workout, based on a signaled interest in specific countries and issues. Eligible, but not required, to participate in any given workout. Free to withdraw from discussion or participation at any time.	Joins all discussions at all Tour d’Horizon meetings for a limited period of time at the end of which creditors must either seek full membership or return to Ad Hoc Participation. Acceptance as a full member is based on demonstrated commitment to all Paris Club principles.	Joins all Tour meetings and commits to abide by the Paris Club’s principles. Able to shape evolution of principles and methodology.

Paris Club Principles

	Ad Hoc Participant	Prospective Member	Full Member
Solidarity	Full commitment to solidarity in case of workout participation.	Ability to respect solidarity is a basis for consideration to become a full member.	Full commitment to solidarity among Club members.
Consensus	Ad Hoc Participants cannot block decisions, but can shape them.	Prospective Members cannot block decisions but can shape them to a greater extent, in particular through the methodology sessions.	Able to block decisions but agrees to abide by decisions made by consensus.
Information Sharing	Ad Hoc Participants and PC members share data based on reciprocity. Providing data on claims is strongly encouraged, and is a condition for the participation of an Ad Hoc Participant in a debt workout. In order for discussions to remain productive, deliberations are kept confidential.	Beyond workouts, data sharing is not obligatory but strongly encouraged.	Responds to all data sharing requests.
Case-by-Case	Case-by-case treatment of debtor countries will continue regardless of the type of participation or membership.
Conditionality	Conditionality applies regardless of type of participation or membership.
Comparable Treatment	A debtor country that signs an agreement with its Paris Club creditors should not accept from its non-Paris Club bilateral and commercial creditors terms of treatment of its debt less favorable to the debtor than those agreed with the Paris Club.

Observers

Observers are invited to attend the negotiating sessions of the Paris Club but they cannot participate in the negotiation itself, nor sign the agreement that formalizes the result of negotiation.

There are three categories of observers:

- representatives of international institutions:

• International Monetary Fund (IMF)
• World Bank
• Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
• United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
• European Commission
• African Development Bank
• Asian Development Bank
• European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)
• Inter-American Development Bank (IADB)

- representatives of the permanent members of the Paris Club debt not affected by the debt treatment (eg, creditors whose claims are covered by the de minimis clause) or which are not creditors of the debtor countries, but who nevertheless wish to attend the negotiation session.

- representatives of non-member countries of the Paris Club as ad hoc participants, provided that the permanent members and the debtor countries accept their presence.

List of chairpersons

Incomplete list:

• Jean-Claude Trichet (1985-1993)
• Christian Noyer (1993-1997)
• Jean-Pierre Jouyet (2000-2005)
• Xavier Musca (2005-2009)
• Ramon Fernandez (2009-May 2014)
• Bruno Bézard (since June 2014)

Paris Club Principles

"The Paris Club is a non-institution, combining pragmatic Anglo-Saxon Latin imagination." - Jean-Claude Trichet, 2006

The fact of not possessing legal personality or constitutive texts, but only a number of principles and rules, allowing the Paris Club to be very flexible in dealing with different situations of debtors. The lack of formalization of rules negotiations also responds to the need to treat each country on a case by case basis.

Over the years, a body of methods rescheduling or debt cancellation has been developed. However, the Paris Club has the freedom to change its rules at any time. For example, no debt stock cancellation was possible until the 1990s, when it was a part of many agreements since.

The debtor country has to contact the Paris Club. Its request should provide a detailed description of its economic and financial situation, demonstrating its inability to service its external debt. It must also have signed an IMF program whose analyzes should show a need for funding the need for treatment of debt.

Solidarity

All members of the Paris Club agree to act as a group in their dealings with a given debtor country and be sensitive to the effect that the management of their particular claims may have on the claims of other members.

Consensus

Paris Club decisions cannot be taken without a consensus among the participating creditor countries.

Information sharing

The Paris Club is a unique information-sharing forum. Paris Club members regularly share views and information with each other on the situation of debtor countries, benefit from participation by the IMF and World Bank, and share data on their claims on a reciprocal basis. In order for discussions to remain productive, deliberations are kept confidential.

Case by case

The Paris Club makes decisions on a case-by-case basis in order to tailor its action to each debtor country’s individual situation. This principle was consolidated by the Evian Approach.

Conditionality

The Paris Club only negotiates debt restructurings with debtor countries that:

• need debt relief. Debtor countries are expected to provide a precise description of their economic and financial situation,
• have implemented and are committed to implementing reforms to restore their economic and financial situation, and
• have a demonstrated track record of implementing reforms under an IMF program.

This means in practice that the country must have a current program supported by an appropriate arrangement with the IMF (Stand-By, Extended Fund Facility, Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility, Policy Support Instrument). The level of the debt treatment is based on the financing gap identified in the IMF program.

In the case of a flow treatment, the consolidation period coincides with the period when the IMF arrangement shows a need for debt relief. When the flow treatment extends over a long period of time (generally more than one year), the Paris Club agreement is divided into phases. The amounts falling due during the first phase are treated as soon as the agreement enters into force. Subsequent phases are implemented following completion of conditions mentioned in the Agreed Minutes, including non-accumulation of arrears and approval of the reviews of the IMF program.

Comparability of treatment

A debtor country that signs an agreement with its Paris Club creditors should not accept from its non-Paris Club commercial and bilateral creditors terms of treatment of its debt less favorable to the debtor than those agreed with the Paris Club.

Negotiations

Negotiations typically take place in a conference room in Paris and chaired by the French Treasury although another country can host and chair the negotiation (Ghana’s 1970 debt-relief negotiations were held in London). The chairman begins the session after few welcoming words and the official meeting begins with a statement by the ministry of the debtor country, who basically orally presents the written requested debt treatment. This statement is followed by the IMF, the World Bank, and the regional development bank. This process constitutes the first part of the meeting. A second round gathers creditor countries and the IMF representative without debtors being present. Creditors come up with an agreed-upon proposal that is presented to the debtor country by the chairman. The delegation of the debtor country can make amendments or agree to the terms. This cycle of proposition and counter-offer, mediated by the chair, can take a while. It is usually possible to reach an agreement by lunchtime of the next day. As soon as an agreement is reached, the secretary prepares a document called the Agreed Minutes and contains the terms of the negotiation.

Rescheduling Terms

Rescheduling agreements with the Paris Club are never a restructuring or rescheduling of an entire stock of outstanding debt on a specific date, but rather a rescheduling of payments of principal and interest due during the period of time called “consolidation.” Thus official creditors do not reschedule the stock but the flow of debt. The reason behind this wisdom is that the stock of debt may include some foreign-aid credits with payments due in the distant future. On top of past obligations, debtors face new layers of future payments at the end of the consolidation period. Creditors have a strong preference to limit the consolidation period to one year coinciding with the debtor country’s IMF standby arrangement whereas debtors prefer a multi-year consolidation period of two to five years.

Over the years, longer repayment periods have been considered by the club. Before, repayment terms did not exceed ten years including a grace period (in which only payments of interest on the consolidation are due). However, the terms now go up to 40 years (including 16 years of grace) for official development aid loans. The number and percentage of debt cancellation has also been on the increase and can reach up to 90 percent for some Heavily Indebted Poor Countries. Below is a graph that provides a synopsis of the Paris Club’s claim for the last few years.

The cut-off-date

When a country gets debt treatment from the Paris Club for the first time a cut-off-date is set and is not modified in subsequent treatment in the Paris Club. Credits granted after this date will not be subject to the debt treatments, to protect the loans granted by Paris Club creditors after an agreement and thus restore access to the debtor country new financing.

Thus, when the export credit agencies are assured that the loans granted after that date are excluded renegotiations, they can regain their financial transactions with debtors with a smaller risk of subsequent restructuring of these new credits. The restructuring applies to commitments signed before the cut-off-date even if their implementation (credit disbursement or delivery of products) occurs after that date.

Policies for the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries

The great difficulties of some developoing countries to break the cycle of debt led creditor countries of the Paris Club to adopt more ambitious policies.

In October 1988, creditors decided to implement a new treatment for the debt of the poorest countries. This new treatment called " Toronto terms " implements for the first time a reduction of the stock of debt of poor countries. The level of reduction was defined as 33.33%. 20 countries benefited from Toronto terms between 1988 and 1991.

In December 1991, creditors decided to increase the level of cancellation of 33.33% as defined in Toronto, to 50% under the "London terms". These agreements benefited to 23 countries.

Going even further, in December 1994, creditors decided to implement a new treatment called "Naples terms", which can be implemented on a case by case basis. Thus, for the poorest and most indebted countries, the level of cancellation of eligible credit is increased to 50% or even 67% (as of September 1999, all treatments carry a 67% debt reduction). In addition, stock of treatments can be applied in each case for countries that have complied satisfactorily previous commitments. Up to 2008, 35 of 39 countries have reached the completion point of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries HIPCs.

Finally, in September 1996, the joint proposal of the Development Committee of the World Bank and the IMF Interim Committee, the international financial community has recognized that the debt situation of a number of very poor countries, of which three quarters are located in sub-Saharan Africa remained extremely difficult, even after having used traditional mechanisms. A group of 39 countries, were identified as being potentially eligible for the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries HIPCs.

Since the start of the HIPC initiative, debt relief granted to the 36 post-decision point countries at end-2011 amounts to almost 35 percent of these countries’ 2010 GDP, around USD 128 Bn in nominal terms. The total debt relief effort provided under the HIPC initiative is shared by multilateral creditors (44.5%), the Paris Club (36.3%), non-Paris Club bilateral creditors (13.1%) and private creditors (6.1%). Hence, the HIPC initiative represents a genuine and significant financial effort from Paris Club member countries, especially considering that they indirectly contribute to debt relief granted by multilateral creditors, as they are major shareholders of these international financial institutions.

According to the IMF and the World Bank, debt relief granted since the beginning of the HIPC Initiative reduced beneficiary countries’ debt burden by about 90 percent relative to pre-decision point levels. Debt relief has also allowed beneficiary countries to reduce their debt service and to increase social spending. According to the IMF and the World Bank, for the 36 post-decision point countries, poverty reducing spending increased by more than 3 percentage points of GDP, on average, between 2001 and 2010, while debt service payments declined by a similar amount. Such progress is consistent with the HIPC initiative’ objective, namely, to reallocate the increased spending capacity towards the fight against poverty and to accelerate progress toward the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.

Apart from the HIPC initiative, the Paris Club adopted a new framework for debt restructuring in 2003, the Evian approach. Through the Evian framework, the Paris Club’s goal is to take into account debt sustainability considerations, to adapt its response to the financial situation of debtor countries, and to contribute to current efforts to ensure an orderly, timely and predictable resolution of economic and financial crises. The approach aims at providing a tailored response to debtor countries’ payment difficulties. Countries with unsustainable debt may be granted a comprehensive debt treatment, provided that they are committed to policies that will secure an exit from the Paris Club process, in the framework of their IMF arrangements.

Paris Club looks to the future

As the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative draws to a close, the Paris Club will refocus its activities on its core function as a club of creditors, aimed primarily at coordinating the orderly resolution of sovereign debt crises.

The Club’s unique experience and track record of 429 successful negotiations with 90 countries will allow it to continue playing a pivotal role in the international financial system, by providing an effective forum for debt restructuring. Its well-established practices allow for an efficient and timely resumption of debt service payments to creditors and continued access to credit financing for economic development.

As such, the Paris Club provides benefits to both debtors and creditors:

• For creditors, the Club is an efficient and coordinated forum for the recovery of claims and acts as a leveraging force through its longstanding expertise in terms of debt restructuring and debt collection. A coordinated creditor voice also helps to promote respect for debtors' payment obligations in the long run.
• For debtors, avoiding protracted periods of default and arrears helps promote access to new lending from private and official sources and contributes to achieving the ultimate goal of sustainable economic development.

As a pivotal actor in the international financial community, the Paris Club contributed within the HIPC framework, launched in 1996 by the IMF and World Bank and enhanced in 1999 at the Cologne G7 summit, to reduce the external debt burdens of the most heavily indebted poor countries to sustainable levels. Out of 39 eligible countries, the Paris Club notes with satisfaction that 35 have reached the completion point, restoring their financial soundness, debt sustainability, and, in some cases, access to capital markets. Through their considerable and exceptional effort, Paris Club members contributed more than a third of the cost of this successful initiative.

Since 2003, alongside the HIPC initiative, the Paris Club has successfully implemented, with 15 countries, the “Evian approach” which allows for flexible, orderly, timely and predictable crisis resolutions. This approach ensures that debt restructuring is granted only in exceptional circumstances of imminent default, and is not considered by debtor countries as an alternative to more expensive sources of financing. Debt relief will only be made when no other alternative is available to restore debt sustainability, in order for creditors to recover the remaining amount. All the while, the Evian approach provides debtor countries with a debt treatment that closely reflects their financial needs and the objective of ensuring long lasting debt sustainability.

Finally, Paris Club members have engaged in 13 early repayment operations since 1997. This dynamic management scheme allows debtors to buy back their debt ahead of schedule to take advantage of strong economic performance.

Looking to the future, the Paris Club will step up its efforts to respond effectively to the challenges of the global financial situation and to enhance its capacity to provide the most suitable debt treatment for creditors and debtors.

Paris Forum

The Paris Forum is an annual event, jointly organized by the Paris Club and the rotating Presidency of the G20, since 2013. The conference gathers representatives from creditor and debtor countries, and is a forum for frank and open debate on the global evolutions in terms of sovereign financing and on the prevention and resolution of sovereign debt crises. As international financial markets and capital flows are increasingly integrated, non-Paris Club official bilateral creditors are representing a larger share in the financing of developing and emerging countries. The objective of the Forum, in this context, is to foster close and regular dialogue between stakeholders, in order to create an international financial environment favorable to sustainable growth in developing countries. In particular, the Paris Forum aims at enhancing the involvement of emerging countries, be they creditors or debtors, in international debates on sovereign financing, in order to make discussions as open and frank as possible. The Paris Forum annually gathers more than thirty representatives from sovereign creditors and debtors, of which the members of the G20, the members of the Paris Club, and countries from the different regions of the world. The following countries participated in the first editions of the Paris Forum.

Paris Club members: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, the Russian Federation, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States of America

G20 members ad hoc participants of the Paris Club: Brazil, Korea, People’s Bank of China

G20 members non-members of the Paris Club: Argentine, India, Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Turkey

Other countries: Czech Republic, Mozambique, Poland, Qatar, Senegal, Seychelles, Tanzania

International institutions (International Monetary Fund, World Bank, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), G24 Secretariat, Bank for International Settlements, European Commission) also participated in the conference.

The first edition of the Paris Forum was held on October 29, 2013 in Paris, and was jointly organized by the Paris Club and the Russian Presidency of the G20. The closing remarks were made by Ms. Christine Lagarde, Managing director of the IMF.

The second edition of the Paris Forum was held on November 20, 2014 in Paris, and was jointly organized by the Paris Club and the Australian Presidency of the G20. Closing remarks were made by M. Angel Gurria, Secretary General of the OECD.

Accomplishments

There are many notable contributions from Paris Club, which is an informal group of 20 sovereign creditor countries, working in the development of coordinated and sustainable solutions for the problems and difficulties in payment faced by countries in the debtors list. The Paris club completed an important role in debt crisis resolution for a period greater than 50 years, in emerging and developing countries. The rules and principles that are established for negotiations of different types of debt treatments have proven to be highly efficient towards resolving of various debt crises. Pragmatism and flexibility are important features in the past activity of the Paris club, with the decisions of the group influenced by both political and technical criteria

Among the spectacular decisions, the Paris Club has granted in November 2004, a cancellation of 80% of the stock of debt owed by Iraq, nearly 30 billion of dollars canceled, and a moratorium until 2008. In February 2006, the United States announced a relief Afghanistan's debt of 108 million of dollars.

Also in 2005, after the tsunami which affected the countries bordering the Indian Ocean, the Paris Club decided to temporarily suspend some of repayments of affected countries. In January 2010, the Paris Club also canceled Haiti's debt to help it overcome the consequences of the earthquake of 12 January.

Nigeria was the first African country to repay all of its debt to the Paris Club: 4.5 billion of dollars was received on 21 April 2006.

Russia had, in July and August 2005, started to repay its debt expectations from donor countries. On 21 August 2006, Russia repaid the remainder of its debt to the Paris Club. Gabon and Jordan were both paid in 2007 their debt by market value advance with the Paris Club creditors.

In January 2013, the Paris Club has processed $10 billion of debt owed by Burma to the Paris Club, canceling 50% of arrears and rescheduling the rest over 15 years, including 7 years of grace.

There are many contributions of Paris Club which are deemed notable. The recent deal with the creditors of the Paris Club and the Argentinean Government on 28 and 29 May 2014, is a landmark deal, where an arrangement was made to clear the debt in the arrears which are due to the creditors of the Paris Club in a span of 5 years. The deal covers some amount of 9.7 billion of dollars of debts by 30 April 2014. Additionally, there is flexible structure to get the arrears cleared with a minimum of 1,150 million of dollars by May 2015, with the payment due to be paid by May 2016. The debt accumulated for Argentina is due to the 2001-02 Argentinean default crises, where there is default amount of 132 billion of dollars.

Criticism of the Paris Club

Creditors have been able to run the Paris Club for years without any threat of criticism or any negative comments; however, bondholders are now irritated that the Paris Club is refusing to adjust its methods to fit the new and different economic environment, one in which private finance calls the shots. The Paris Club has always been known as a secretive organization. Rules of the Paris Club are not written down, but are instead simply known by only the treasury officials who keep these ideas completely to themselves. Along with the secretive nature of the decisions made by creditors, participants are known to be “kept working - or waiting - throughout day and night, with little sleep or food, until one side cracks. The creditors sit in a windowless conference hall while the debtors are crammed into a tiny meeting room downstairs.” These working conditions are accompanied by unfair treatment to the representatives of the debtor countries.

Whom Are Attacks coming from?

• Former participants: Former UK treasury official who attended Paris Club meetings is quoted in saying: "It always struck me that there must be a better way of doing it, when it gets to 3am, your mind is fuzzy and you just want to sleep, can you really be producing the best results? This approach seems hopelessly out of date." Another said: "Paris Club meetings are surreal it’s like being in a production of the Wizard of Oz. You lose all track of time."

• Hedge fund managers

• Senior Bankers: Senior debt negotiator and vice chairman of Citigroup Bill Rhodes had this to say: “There needs to be more transparency [in the Paris Club], more Flexibility and more dialogue with the private sector."

When Paris Club creditors and officials were asked who could be involved in the Paris Club their reply was: “The Paris Club invites all creditors of good faith.” This begged the question: Who decides who is a good faith creditor? Disagreements and criticism of the Paris Club have come from more than one avenue and have increased drastically compared to early Paris Club history.

Recent effort by the Paris Club to improve transparency

In 2006, a significant number of non-governmental organizations have requested the change of rules of the Paris Club, especially for transparence.

The Paris Club has since created a new website in 2009, which reiterates the terms of all treatments given to 90 debtor countries. Since 2008, the Paris Club also publishes an annual report, which includes detailed data on claims that its members hold foreign states. The total amount of debt to Paris Club, excluding late interest, amounted to end 2013 to 373.1 billion of dollars, including 165.8 billion of dollars representing ODA debts and 207.3 billion of dollars in debts non-ODA.

See also

• London Club
• Debt of developing countries

External links

• Paris Club Official Website

Articles

• Paris Club Agrees On Iraqi Debt Write-Off (washingtonpost.com)
• Paris Club agrees to cancel Liberian debt