E/CN.4/1999/48 page 17 68. In addition, the international community should continue its efforts regarding debt relief for developing countries, with a view to contributing to a durable solution to the debt problems of developing countries, particularly Africa and the least developed countries, and thus support their efforts to eradicate poverty. The total debt of developing countries has risen relentlessly from $1.6 trillion in 1993 to $1.9 trillion in 1995. Debt servicing payments contribute to poverty when public revenue is diverted from productive sector expenditure, such as education, health and physical infrastructure to debt servicing (ibid., para. 49). 69. According to the World Bank, for approximately 40 poor and highly indebted countries, official debt has grown so high that Governments are finding it difficult to both service their debt and make important investments in health and education. In September 1996 the Bank, with the International Monetary Fund, endorsed the establishment of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative (HIPC). It focuses on debt sustainability and providing debt relief by all creditors, including multilateral institutions. The initiative cuts debt servicing payments within a sustainable development strategy, with particular focus on investments in primary health care and education. 70. However, it has become apparent to UNDP that the HIPC initiative has a number of shortcomings. One of the most serious is the measure of sustainability - which is based on the ratio of the total value of public debt to the value of exports of goods and services. Moreover, in order to benefit from the initiative, countries must demonstrate a six-year track record of structural adjustment. Given the slow progress of HIPC, UNDP has suggested that debt should be reduced to a level at which it no longer constitutes a significant obstacle to sustaining human development. Under this arrangement, basic human development expenditures would not be considered part of the fiscal base for debt-servicing. 71. The alternative approach would reduce debt to a level at which essential human development expenditures could be maintained. On this basis, the debt of 10 of the poorest countries would have to be reduced to zero - Burundi, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and the United Republic of Tanzania. And for other countries it would have to be reduced by 80 per cent - Angola, Burkina Faso, Congo, Guinea Bissau, Madagascar, Nicaragua, Nigeria, São Tomé and Principe, Yemen, and Zambia. The total cost of debt reduction following these principles would be around US$ 160 billion, or double what is proposed in the HIPC initiative. Two thirds of this might be expected to come from bilateral agencies and one third from the multilaterals. 72. It is also encouraged to increase access to microcredit and related financial services for self-employment and income-generating activities for people living in poverty, in particular women in developing countries, particularly in Africa and the least developed countries. More than 500 million of the world's poor run profitable small and microbusinesses. Yet fewer than 2 per cent of low income entrepreneurs and producers have access to financial services. Too many are forced to mortgage their security by turning to money lenders who charge extortionate interest and threaten