Private and public debt levels are high and possibly unsustainable.

Many African countries have used the past decade to put in place sound and sustainable economic policies that have delivered robust growth and low inflation. Together with debt relief, these policies have resulted in low levels of public debt, relatively sound financial systems, and most important rising living standards.

The country is also burdened with high levels of debt and limited resources.

They could contrast their high growth rates with Europe s high levels of debt.

Fiscal deficits must be cut to reduce debt levels.

That is why countries build up debt levels that put them in the danger zone.

That measure would avoid frequent rescheduling and would reduce the debt stock to sustainable levels.

The main reason for the lag is not simply low demand or large debts.

In Europe, the market for Greek debt has frozen, and interest rate spreads between Irish and German euro denominated debt recently reached alarming levels.

We cannot do that with national debt.

The average high debt episodes since 1800 last 23 years and are associated with a growth rate more than one percentage point below the rate typical for periods of lower debt levels.

This means extending the maturity dates of debts and reducing the interest rate on the new debt to levels much lower than currently unsustainable market rates.

Currently, they are wrestling with widening sovereign debt problems and high unemployment.

The stock imbalances include large and rising public and private debt as a share of GDP.

A long term alternative requires some capacity to write down debt where it has reached excessive levels.

Five years on, public, private, and external debt are at record levels in many countries.

In Brazil, the consequences of those crises were an inflationary spiral and an increase in foreign debt to stratospheric levels.

For some, reducing debt burdens to sustainable levels looks increasingly difficult within existing official debt reduction schemes.

There is a second difficulty in the international strategy, however, that is becoming increasingly salient as the international community arranges for ever deeper cuts in the levels of debt and debt servicing.

Source System of gender focused indicators (SIEG) 2001 national household survey on standards of living.

6. The preparation of the national reports has already mobilized national development partners and various levels of government around the Conference themes.

Such profligacy has led to levels of debt that will become unsustainable if we do not act.

Progress during the preceding two and a half decades had been small, as debt levels had failed to decrease significantly.

National Institute of Statistics and Censuses, national household survey on standards of living, 2001.

National Institute of Statistics and Censuses, national household survey on standards of living, op. cit., p. 134.

And of course, there again is the matter of the soaring national debt.

General report, 2001 national household survey on standards of living. National Institute of Statistics and Censuses Programme for the Improvement of Surveys and the Measurement of Living Conditions in Latin America and the Caribbean (MECOVI).

UNDP strengthens national capacity to coordinate aid on a variety of levels.

Private leverage levels, as much as the public debt burden, must therefore be treated as crucial economic variables.

Reinhart and Rogoff s research broadly shows that GDP growth is slower at high levels of public debt.

Debt levels remain crippling, amounting to more than 100 per cent of the gross domestic product of the Solomon Islands.

Latin America, on the other hand, has been reducing its external debt to GNP ratio mainly through reduction of debt levels and only slowly undertaking new borrowing.

It should be based on official development assistance (ODA) grants in order to avoid increasing national debt burdens.

National machineries must be fully integrated into policymaking at all levels of government.

Bank deposits, along with most other private and public debts, were denominated in that national currency.

Source Based on data from the system of gender focused indicators (SIEG) 2001 national household survey on standards of living.

The other Asian countries concerned are at various stages of preparing the NAPs.

The National Strategy on Violence against Women provided a framework for concerted action at all levels of government.

The national reports indicated a need to clarify priorities at all levels of the planning process.

But, for now, a complete meltdown seems distinctly less likely than gradual stabilization followed by a tepid recovery, with soaring debt levels and lingering high unemployment.

But Portugal s debt levels are still highly problematic by historical benchmarks (based on my research with Carmen Reinhart).

First, high levels of debt will limit both welfare benefits and future governments ability to swap favors for votes.

These subsidies are dangerous they encourage excessive risk taking and very high leverage meaning a lot of debt relative to equity for each bank and far too much debt relative to the economy as a whole.

F. Goals and objectives 263. The vast majority of national reports from developing countries stated goals and objectives to reduce fertility levels.

But even institutionalized monetary austerity has not stopped national public debt levels from reaching 50 100 of GDP in Europe (higher in countries Greece and Italy) and surpassing 100 in the US.