Vulture funds
Christian aid is trying to raise the profile of so-called “vulture funds” in relation to international debt. The profits these companies are wringing out of the world’s poorest countries seriously reduce the benefits of the commitments rich countries are making.
One way countries lose money is through debt claims from private finance companies – the vulture funds that have recently been much discussed in the news. Vulture funds truly deserve their name, says the agency; they swoop in on the world’s poorest countries in order to make a cynical buck out of their debts.
These companies buy countries’ debt for much less than its value, at a point when the country is in the economic doldrums and the original creditor just wants to escape the situation.
They then try, in various ways, to reclaim much more money when the country is in better shape – sometimes by suing the country.
(From Ekklesia.)
pax et bonum
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