Does anyone know how much of the Marshall Plan debt remains unpaid by foreign countries. I’ve done some looking on teh net and it seems to be a complicated question with very political answers.
First, it appears that in 1940’s dollars, there was about $1.5B of loans and about $10-15B in grants. So apparently, much of the plan was never intended to be repaid?
Second, I see conflicting statements about what was repaid. Some sources say all of the debt was repaid, another source says only Germany repaid its debt.
Third, I am not sure if the above estimates include the lend/lease program. Little of that was reimbursed.
From what I gathered from German sources (e.g. here) the part with respect to Germany was:
$ 1.6 billon’s worth (at end-1940s prices) of Marshall Plan aid (not actual money but machinery and other capital goods, fuel, fertilizer, etc produced by US companies who invoiced the US government) as a loan to West Germany and West Berlin. Marshall Plan aid also offered to East Germany but refused.
other Marshall Plan recipient countries got their aid as non-repayable grants.
in a 1953 treaty the loan was forgiven except for $ 1 billion which was to be repaid over the next 30 years but was in fact repaid by 1966
In a way Germany profited from being treated less favorably (loan instead of grant) initially. The German companies paid the value of the goods imported from the US into an account with the central bank, that was used as a revolving fund loaning money to businesses until such time as the money had to be repaid. The actual part repayment seems to have been done from the general federal budget, so the fund remained as a separate asset which could not be spent for general government expense. It still exists (named “ERP-Sondervermögen”), is used to give loans to businesses for investments, and seems to be at about 12 billion euros these days.
HMG:
"Under the agreement the loans would be repaid in 50 annual installments commencing in 1950. However, the agreement allowed deferral of annual payments of both principal and interest if necessary because of prevailing international exchange rate conditions and the level of the United Kingdom’s foreign currency and gold reserves. The United Kingdom has deferred payments on six occasions. Repayment of the war loans to the United States Government should therefore be completed on 31 December 2006, subject to the United Kingdom not choosing to exercise its option to defer repayment.
As at 31 March 2001, principal of $346,287,953 (£243,573,154 at the exchange rate on that day) was outstanding on the loans provided by the United States Government in 1945. The Government intend to meet their obligations under the 1945 agreement by repaying the United States Government in full the amounts lent in 1945 and so no representation has been made. "