Some Countries Still Repaying WWI Debt
- 10 years ago
Although the war happened 100 years ago, there is still money left to be paid back by countries that fought.
World War I ended almost 100 years ago in 1918, and there are still some countries today paying off the debt they accrued from it.
The United Kingdom announced that approximately $349 million, of the more than $3 billion spent on the Great War, will be repaid by February 2015.
In order to do so, the UK will be refinancing 11,200 registered bonds that were initially bought in 1917, and later refinanced by Winston Churchill in 1927.
Some of the bonds were refinanced yet again in 1932 into so-called perpetual bonds allowing the British government to avoid paying back the principal provided they paid an annual 3.5% interest on them.
Germany, who was defeated in WWI, managed to pay off the entirety of its debt in 2010.
Interestingly, it was the United States that in mid 1920’s helped Germany start to pay back the approximate equivalent of 96,000 tons of gold that it owned in reparations to France and the UK.
In turn, the debt owed to the U.S. from France and the UK was also being reimbursed. This worked until Adolf Hitler defaulted on the loans when he gained leadership in 1933.
World War I ended almost 100 years ago in 1918, and there are still some countries today paying off the debt they accrued from it.
The United Kingdom announced that approximately $349 million, of the more than $3 billion spent on the Great War, will be repaid by February 2015.
In order to do so, the UK will be refinancing 11,200 registered bonds that were initially bought in 1917, and later refinanced by Winston Churchill in 1927.
Some of the bonds were refinanced yet again in 1932 into so-called perpetual bonds allowing the British government to avoid paying back the principal provided they paid an annual 3.5% interest on them.
Germany, who was defeated in WWI, managed to pay off the entirety of its debt in 2010.
Interestingly, it was the United States that in mid 1920’s helped Germany start to pay back the approximate equivalent of 96,000 tons of gold that it owned in reparations to France and the UK.
In turn, the debt owed to the U.S. from France and the UK was also being reimbursed. This worked until Adolf Hitler defaulted on the loans when he gained leadership in 1933.