Debt Relief under the HIPC Initiative: Why Some Countries Complete the Programme Faster Than Others

The Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative has been one of the primary avenues for delivering debt relief to developing countries in the past decade. However, the performance of countries in the HIPC programme has been vastly heterogeneous with some countries reaching completion point much faster than others. This paper uses Cox-Proportional hazard models to explain the wide disparity in completion times by examining how the economic, social and governance environments within a country affect the speed of completion. The findings suggest that better economic management, increased trade, more effective government machinery, and a more stable political environment among others are all significant in speeding up completion times.