Debt-for-education swaps: Cases between Spain and Latin American countries
Author: Michèle Manpreet Ryatt, supported by NORRAG
In 2005, the Government of Spain announced debt-for-education swap, a program that relieved the debt of several developing countries in exchange for a commitment to invest in their national education systems. The benefited countries in Central and South America included Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Paraguay, Peru, and El Salvador. In Peru, the program lasted between 2006 and 2017 and a total investment of 87,645,326 soles (about USD 27 million) was made into 47 successfully executed projects benefiting 2,300 educational institutions and 174,183 people in Peru (EFE, 2017). In El Salvador, the program was implemented between 2005 and 2013; the program officially ended in October 2013, whereby USD 10 million was invested in the construction and extension of 31 educative centers, 90 schools were equipped with furniture, 1,497 teachers received trainings, and 770 educational centers were equipped with a library for children (Transparencia Activa, 2016).