The work of activists, academics, and concerned citizens has pushed debt relief for the world’s poorest countries to the top of the development agenda. A major new commitment at the 2005 G8 Summit aims to show that debt relief can be an effective method of releasing a poor country's resources to improve its economic and social sectors. CGD research is shaping the debate with concrete proposals for accelerated debt relief, including recent work on restructuring Nigerian debt, mobilizing IMF gold to finance debt relief, and replacing loans with grants to allow poor countries to break out of the poverty trap.
