The London Debt Agreement

The London Agreement on German External Debts, signed in February 1953, cut West Germany's pre-war and post-war external debts from 29.7 to 14.5 billion Deutsche Marks and held debt service to no more than 3 per cent of export earnings; the United States forgave $2 billion of its $3 billion claim for post-war aid. Some claims were deferred until German reunification.

The mechanism

RELEASE

How it was checked

• EvidenceT5 INDEPENDENT SECULAR; Status: ADDED 2026-09-19
• Letter eraTHE REGATHERING AND THE RAIL 1947 to 1993
• SourcesRECORD — G. Galofré-Vilà, C. M. Meissner, M. McKee and D. Stuckler, 'The economic consequences of the 1953 London Debt Agreement', European Review of Economic History 23:1 (2019) (abstract); Law Library of Congress, 'Germany: Repayment of Debts After World War II' (report 98-1140); BBC News (2010), on the 1953 treaty's deferral until reunification · checked 19 September: G. Galofre-Vila, M. McKee, C. M. Meissner and D. Stuckler, 'The Economic Consequences of the 1953 London Debt Agreement', NBER WP 22557 (2016; published in European Review of Economic History 23:1, 2019), full PDF; Law Library of Congress, 'Germany: Repayment of Debts After World War II' (98-1140), full PDF; BBC News 2010 (deferral until unification)