Paris Club
The Paris Club (or Club de Paris, Paris Club ) is an informal body, meet in the government and public creditors with a fallen into financial difficulties debtor country for the purpose of rescheduling or debt relief negotiations. The club mediates between donor countries and the countries that have problems with repayment of public loans and development aid loans or who have been with export credit insurance to borrowers of each country due to late payments on projects.
General and conditions for action
At the conference of government representatives is not is an international non-governmental organization, because it lacks both a relevant constitutional agreement and supported by a sufficient continuity. He is also not a permanent institution, even if a firm is meeting with a permanent secretariat. He enters into restructuring negotiations only on the condition that a positive vote of the IMF and is present between the IMF and the debtor country an agreement on a loan program is achieved. Prerequisite for restructuring negotiations in the Paris Club is an imminent default by the debtor State in the operation of foreign liabilities ( "imminent -default- criterion "). The aid is conditional on a forecast by the International Monetary Fund on the development of the balance of payments for the following year. This conditionality presupposes inter alia that the debtor country is involved in an ongoing IMF program of a credit facility (stand-by - loans, etc.) is supported. This will in turn made dependent on conditions. The degree of restructuring then determined according to the proven IMF financing gap. There is a causal chain that begins at the IMF. The IMF must have voted positively to a debtor State before the Paris Club is active financial assistance. If this one in rescheduling negotiations with the debtor State, if necessary, also the London club act. Within the framework of the Paris Club only due within a relatively short consolidation period interest and principal payments will be rescheduled on a regular basis. The results of the negotiations of the Paris Club are recorded in a log that must be implemented in bilateral rescheduling agreements. Only those agreements are binding under international law. The forum follows on the restructuring of certain standards, the "classic terms ," " Houston terms", " Naples terms" and are called "Cologne terms". This may be associated debt relief. An agreement of a debtor country with the Paris Club is only possible if there is already an agreement with the IMF. This conditionality leads to a failure of the IMF negotiations for an IMF loan stop and also brings no debt relief by the Paris Club.
History and Organization
He first met on 16 May 1956, when it came to addressing the foreign debt of Argentina. The former French finance minister Pierre Pflimlin invited his Argentine counterpart to an interview to Paris, in which Argentina wanted to discuss his debt situation with all creditor countries simultaneously. This practice was met with great approval the parties, and the procedure was extended to other countries.
Since then the club has, together with a small organization based in the Treasury of the French Ministry of Finance. Traditional functions of the Director of the Treasury, as president of the club, currently Xavier Musca. In addition, the Paris Club on a permanent secretariat, can be made on the requests has. This is only due to the resulting tradition since 1956 and standing exercise. The club has no written legal basis - not a government contract nor an organizational constitution.
The creditor countries meet ten to eleven times a year, to discuss the debt situation of different countries and to negotiate with them. Over the years, relatively strict rules for these negotiations and the different models of debt restructuring or debt relief have developed, but also determined not binding and only in outsiders hardly accessible secondary literature are nachlesbar. The result of these discussions is set out in a protocol that formally turn represents only a recommendation, but is in fact followed. On the basis of this Protocol binding international agreements between the respective creditor country and the debtor country to be closed, in which the rescheduling or debt relief in terms of the claim and details like that are set in the future interest payable. The claims of private banks (including the asserted claims of private companies by the banks ) against the debtor country are treated separately in the London club.
Statistics
Since its inception, he has been able to give 421 agreements with 88 debtor states in the amount of 553 billion U.S. dollars (October 2011). The last spectacular decision brought a substantial debt of Iraq by 2008. In February 2006 the United States for Afghanistan announced a complete debt relief in the amount of 108 million U.S. dollars. Nigeria was the first African country repaid its debt to the Paris Club. 4.5 billion dollars were transferred on Friday 21 April 2006. Russia had begun in July and August 2005 due to the good oil business to repay its debts to the donor countries agreed early, the amount was repaid in installments. On August 21, 2006, Russia cleared its remaining debt to the Paris Club. Cameroon has adopted its debt in the amount of 3.5 billion to a residual of 27 million U.S. dollars on 18 June 2006.