G8 cancels third world debt
LONDON, June 11: The world’s richest nations struck an historic deal on Saturday to write off immediately all multilateral debt owed by 18 of the world’s poorest countries, mostly in Africa, amounting to $40 billion. Uganda, Rwanda and Ethiopia gave a cautious welcome to the cancellation of their debt by the Group of Eight (G8) meeting in London, while aid groups called for much greater efforts to tackle global poverty.
“Eighteen countries will have their debts cancelled immediately worth around $40 billion,” British Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown told a news conference after the meeting of G8 finance ministers.
The decision taken by the G8 - the United States, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Russia - concerns debt owed to the World Bank (WB), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the African Development Bank (ADB).
The ministers also agreed nine other countries would become eligible for 100 per cent debt relief totalling an extra $11bn over the next 12 to 18 months.
Thereafter 11 nations could receive similar debt cancellation of $4.0 billion, bringing the total amount of debt relief to $55 billion, added Brown.
(from Yahoo News).
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The thing I dont get is why this isn't huge news. O, hang on, I do get it.
Global superpowers doing something nice would ruin their image as being completely evil.
Someone doing something nice isnt news is it? There have to be people dying or suffering.
And what will the cynics point out. That there are economic reforms that those countries have to make to have their debt cancelled.
Anyway, hopefully this turns out to be a step in the right direction and that some people out there can appreciate it for what it is.
“Eighteen countries will have their debts cancelled immediately worth around $40 billion,” British Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown told a news conference after the meeting of G8 finance ministers.
The decision taken by the G8 - the United States, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Russia - concerns debt owed to the World Bank (WB), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the African Development Bank (ADB).
The ministers also agreed nine other countries would become eligible for 100 per cent debt relief totalling an extra $11bn over the next 12 to 18 months.
Thereafter 11 nations could receive similar debt cancellation of $4.0 billion, bringing the total amount of debt relief to $55 billion, added Brown.
(from Yahoo News).
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The thing I dont get is why this isn't huge news. O, hang on, I do get it.
Global superpowers doing something nice would ruin their image as being completely evil.
Someone doing something nice isnt news is it? There have to be people dying or suffering.
And what will the cynics point out. That there are economic reforms that those countries have to make to have their debt cancelled.
Anyway, hopefully this turns out to be a step in the right direction and that some people out there can appreciate it for what it is.