Debt relief is the partial or total forgiveness of debt, or the slowing or stopping of debt growth, owed by individuals, corporations, or nations. Most often, it concerns, in particular, Third World debt. Debt relief for heavily indebted underdeveloped as well as developing countries has been the hot topic for a broad coalition of development NGOs, Christian organisations and many other groups since the mid 1990s. These allied agencies have been quite successful in pushing debt relief onto the agendas of Western (G8) governments and international organisations such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Ultimately the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative was launched to provide systematic debt relief for the poorest countries, while trying to ensure the money allocated would actually be spent on poverty reduction.

On current trends and including the commitments made at the G8 in Gleneagles, the G8 countries will only be giving 0.36% of GNI and not until 2010.

To reach 0.7% of GNI in 2010 donors must increase their aid not by the $48billion agreed in Gleneagles, but by $170 billion.Need to identify source