G7 to cancel Haiti debt by Magdalena Rosova

Seven most industrialized countries in the world promised on Saturday that they would each cancel their nation's remaining bilateral debt with Haiti, which has been hit by earthquake recently. After two days of G7 talks in Iqaluit, northern Canada, Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced at a press conference the G7 will cancel all Haiti bilateral debt. Jim Flaherty said he would encourage international lender to forgive Haiti's debts as well. Timothy Geither, US Treasury Secretary, said that people in Haiti are now “facing tremendous emergency humanitarian and reconstruction needs, and meeting Haiti's financing needs will require a massive multilateral ef! fort.“ Haiti's debt to the seven strongest nations of the world, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States, is already quite small. The debt was reduced by past relief efforts. However, Haiti's foreign debt remains and it makes about 890 million dollars. Approximately 41 percent of the debt Haiti owes to the InterAmerican Development Bank and another 27 percent is owed to the World Bank. In June the Paris Club agreed to cancel Haiti's remaining debt to its member of about 214 million dollars. France had agreed to gradually annul Haiti's debt, but after the earthquake it forgave the remaining 58 million euros that Haiti owed. Venezuela and Taiwan are other countries that Haiti owes the most. More than one million people need aid in Haiti after the earthquake of the 7.0 magnitude killed more than 200,000 people in the middle of January. Since the earthquake the countries of G7 have been under pressure to help Haiti recover by cancellin! g the Haiti's debts. Haiti was considered as the poorest natio! n in the western hemisphere even before the earthquake.

related story (sgx16379): http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8502567.stm...

by Magdalena Rosova for SigEx Ventures (http://sigexventures.com)

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