World Bank, IMF name 11 nations for new debt relief

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The World Bank and International
Monetary Fund have identified 11 countries that could qualify
for $21 billion in debt relief under a new round of the 1996
global Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative.

A World Bank document released on Monday said the Central
African Republic, Comoros, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Somalia,
Sudan, Togo, Eritrea, Haiti, the Kyrgyz Republic and Nepal met
income and indebtedness criteria for HIPC.

The countries will have to implement economic policies and
follow reforms to qualify for the debt relief at the end of
three years.

The bank document is to be discussed by finance leaders at
the Spring meetings of the World Bank and IMF member countries
in Washington this weekend.

The World Bank said it was unable to decide if Afghanistan
was eligible for debt relief because a large part of its debt
is either “unverified or in dispute.” Only debt that has been
verified and confirmed by the authorities can be treated under
the HIPC initiative.

Afghanistan could, however, still qualify if the disputes
over its debts were resolved, the bank said.

It also said Myanmar could not be included in the list due
to a lack of available data.

The latest exercise to forgive the debt of the world’s
poorest countries comes months after the World Bank and IMF
agreed to write off the debt of 18 impoverished countries under
an agreement launched by the Group of Eight industrialized
countries in June last year.

The 18 countries had previously qualified for HIPC debt
relief and completed the list of reforms needed to graduate.

The World Bank document said both the IMF and bank would
need additional resources to finance the costs of the new round
of debt relief for the 11 countries.