Abstract
Africa’s external debt rose sharply between 1970 and 1980 and between 1980 and 2007. A small decrease could be observed after 2007 under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPIC) and the multilateral debt relieve initiatives (MDRI) in 2006. The debt cancellation under these initiatives was meant to generate between 25 to 30 billion US Dollars per year for economic and human development. However, were these funds properly invested for the purpose for which they were borrowed, meaning reducing poverty by investing on human capital and infrastructures to ignite economic growth? Using a regression analysis, the initial findings reveal that, Gabon struggled to sustain its debt beside the HIPIC and the (MDRI) strategies. The paper starts by introducing a problematic related to the state of debt and poverty in Africa, followed by a concise review of literature and a detailed research method from which appropriated findings were generated. The paper proceeds by compiling comprehensive recommendations followed by a conclusion.