Debt relief is the partial or total forgiveness of debt, or the slowing or stopping of debt growth, owed by heavily indebted and underdeveloped Third World nations. Debt relief is a heavily-championed cause among AIDS activists and humanitarian organizations because of the economic structural adjustment reforms, such as privatization of public utilities, imposed by the International Monetary Fund as a condition for monetary relief, and because, given runaway debt growth, governments of heavily-indebted countries often spend more money paying down spiralling interest than on social programs such as public health.

See also International Monetary Fund, World Bank, Anti-globalization movement.

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