Common Contracts
1 similar London Debt Agreement contracts
Financial ‘Vergangenheitsbewältigung’: The 1953 London Debt Agreement1London Debt Agreement • October 5th, 2016
Abstract: When the Federal Republic of Germany came into being in 1949, German citizens and earlier German governments were in default on some 30 billion Marks. The 1953 London Debt Agreement cut those debts by slightly more than half and extended the repayment peri- ods. The Agreement also allowed Germany to postpone some payments until reunification. The London deal reflects a subtle and responsible understanding of the problems associated with the reparations and debt crises of the 1920s and 1930s, as well as fears about the moral hazard problems that would arise with making any part of the Agreement contingent on events Ger- many could influence. The generous terms offered to Germany reflected its central role in the European economy as well as U.S. foreign policy goals in the emerging Cold War.
