In 1996 the World Bank launched the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPCS) initiative:

a. to encourage multi-lateral aid agencies to increase the number of loans made available to the world’s poorest countries
b. as a program of debt relief that included debt forgiveness and poverty reducing policies
c. as a series of special low-interest loan programs with extended periods for paying them off available to the world’s poorest countries
d. as a series of resolutions passed by the UN Security Council to contain violence in the HIPCs

b. as a program of debt relief that included debt forgiveness and poverty reducing policies