The debts of the poorest and most heavily indebted countries. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s both the IMF and World Bank had become deeply embroiled in lending to the poorest and most highly indebted countries in the world economy. The underpay able debts of these countries had been rescheduled throughout the period leaving the lion’s share owing to the Fund and Bank. Both institutions were concerned to prevent members going into arrears on their loans and thereby eroding the institutions’ own resources. These concerns added to public and political pressures for more to be done to alleviate suffering in the world’s poorest and most heavily indebted countries. The political pressure was intensified by the activities of non governmental organizations such as the umbrella group Jubilee 2000 which campaigned for debt relief. The result was a succession of official debt relief announcements made within the framework of the highly indebted poor countries initiative(HIPC) based in the IMF and the World Bank.