These programs force them to reduce spending on beneficial social programs, open themselves up further to outside investment, sell off their natural resources, and provide still more funding for trade-based infrastructures.
This borrowing leaves them vulnerable to the vagaries of the deregulated global financial system: if prices for their exports decline, countries may be unable to repay their loans. They are then pressured to undertake ‘structural adjustment’ programs as the price for further loans. These programs force them to reduce spending on beneficial social programs, open themselves up further to outside investment, sell off their natural resources, and provide still more funding for trade-based infrastructures. It’s a vicious cycle that ensures both environmental destruction and increased hardship for the majority.