Definition of Paris Club

The Paris Club is a group of creditors whose purpose is to organize payment methods for debtor countries, as well as to carry out debt restructuring. It owes its name to operating from the treasury of the government from France, in Paris. The permanent countries that comprise it are Austria, Holland, Russia, England, Canada, Japan, Denmark, Italy, Spain, Australia, Ireland, Finland, Belgium, France, Germany, United States, Norway, Sweden and Swiss. To these must be added countries that occasionally joined it and functioned as creditors; These include Argentina, Kuwait, Trinidad and Tobago, Brazil, Israel, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa, Korea, Portugal, Turkey, etc.

The club's meetings are around ten a year, and are chaired by officials from the French treasury.

The beginnings of the Paris Club date back to 1956, when the then Minister of finance French summoned the countries that had made loans to Argentina. From there, the list of debtor countries with which the members of this

forum agreements were being made, it was increasing. These debtor countries are mostly holders of a economy little developed.

The rules governing both permanent and occasional members involve a number of notions: consensus, that there is a previous loan or payment program established by the International Monetary Fund, the solidarity Y equal treatment between countries, etc. Despite the levels from coordination and organization that owns this announcement creditors, it should be noted that it lacks legal status, therefore being classified as an informal forum.

Those debtor countries that go into default with the Paris Club expose themselves to veiled retaliation from the financial world, consisting of an automatic cut of credits that contribute to alleviate a crisis. It is from this perspective that the altruistic intentions of this organization can be questioned, which constitutes a significant Power accumulation.

Themes in Paris Club