Dear supporter,

Please take urgent action now to influence the UK government’s position on debt relief ahead of a crucial meeting of the International Monetary Fund in September >>

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is awash with money. It has a windfall of almost $3 billion from selling gold at a high price, on top of a projected annual profit of $1.3 billion this year and $2.3 billion in 2012.

The IMF is booming because of interest it makes on lending to countries in crisis, from Greece and Ireland to Pakistan and Jamaica. Despite cheerleading financial deregulation, the IMF is doing well out of the economic crisis it helped to create.

Earlier this year we launched a global petition to the IMF calling for the gold windfall to be used to cancel debt. In April, around 15,000 signatures were handed in to the IMF in Washington. Our campaign has helped to get debt relief onto the list of options for using the money.

In September the IMF will meet again. The UK government is currently deciding what it will argue for in this crucial meeting.

Please take action now calling for the UK government to support using the IMF windfall to cancel debt >>

The governments which run the IMF are considering setting some of the money aside to pay off old debts owed by the remaining countries in the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative. Too often such debts have been paid off with loans, which has left countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo making higher debt repayments after ‘debt cancellation’ than they were before.

However, we believe the IMF would currently prefer to use the money to boost its reserves, increase its already huge income or to give out more new loans.

Please write to Andrew Mitchell, Secretary of State for International Development, to support genuine debt cancellation for old debts >>

Best wishes,
Tim Jones
Senior Policy and Campaigns Officer

Jubilee Debt Campaign
The Grayston Centre
28 Charles Square
London
N1 6HT
United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0)20 7324 4722
Fax: +44 (0)20 7324 4723

Email - for general enquiries and materials requests:
info@jubileedebtcampaign.org.uk