Title 22, Foreign Relations and IntercourseRelease 119-102

§5322 Findings

Title 22 › CHAPTER 62 — INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL POLICY › SUBCHAPTER II — INTERNATIONAL DEBT › Part A — Findings, Purposes, and Statement of Policy › § 5322

Last updated Aug 21, 2026|Official source

Summary

Congress says international debt is hurting the world economy. It threatens the global financial and trading systems and slows development in countries with big debts. High debt payments and too little new financing have forced money to flow from debtor countries to creditor countries and have held back growth. Those money outflows cut investment, make debtors cut imports and push them to export more, and they lower commodity prices in world markets, which can hurt U.S. industries. The United States has taken on more of the extra exports than other rich countries. Solutions should not rely only on new loans. Congress urges looking at other options, like cutting debt payments and creating new international ways to manage and finance debt. Wealthy countries with large current account surpluses hold much of the world’s capital and have extra responsibility to help.

Full Legal Text

Title 22, §5322

Foreign Relations and Intercourse, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

The Congress finds that—

(1)the international debt problem threatens the safety and soundness of the international financial system, the stability of the international trading system, and the economic development of the debtor countries;

(2)orderly reduction of international trade imbalances requires very substantial growth in all parts of the world economy, particularly in the developing countries;

(3)growth in developing countries with substantial external debts has been significantly constrained over the last several years by a combination of high debt service obligations and insufficient new flows of financial resources to these countries;

(4)substantial interest payment outflows from debtor countries, combined with inadequate net new capital inflows, have produced a significant net transfer of financial resources from debtor to creditor countries;

(5)negative resource transfers at present levels severely depress both investment and growth in the debtor countries, and force debtor countries to reduce imports and expand exports in order to meet their debt service obligations;

(6)current adjustment policies in debtor countries, which depress domestic demand and increase production for export, help to depress world commodity prices and limit the growth of export markets for United States industries;

(7)the United States has borne a disproportionate share of the burden of absorbing increased exports from debtor countries, while other industrialized countries have increased their imports from developing countries only slightly;

(8)current approaches to the debt problem should not rely solely on new lending as a solution to the debt problem, and should focus on other financing alternatives including a reduction in current debt service obligations;

(9)new international mechanisms to improve the management of the debt problem and to expand the range of financing options available to developing countries should be explored; and

(10)industrial countries with strong current account surpluses have a disproportionate share of the world’s capital resources, and bear an additional responsibility for contributing to a viable long-term solution to the debt problem.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

22 U.S.C. § 5322

Title 22, Foreign Relations and Intercourse

Last Updated

Aug 21, 2026

Release point: 119-102