Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Port-au-Prince (Agenzia Fides) – One of the measures to be taken urgently, to alleviate the appalling suffering of the Haitian people is the abolition of a large part of the 641 million dollars of foreign debt owed by the country. This proposal has just been made by the international network “Jubilee.” Thanks to the efforts of Jubilee, in June 2009 debts owed by Haiti until 2004 were cancelled, for a total of 1.2 billion dollars. Half of the sum due at the time must be repaid to the IMF and the Interamerican Development Bank. The executive government of Port-au-Prince had planned to return $10 million by the end of 2010, but with the current situation it will clearly be unable to do so, given that funds are being used for emergency response and reconstruction. Jubilee says the Obama Administration should act within the two multilateral institutions cited to call for the cancellation. (SL) (Agenzia Fides 19/01/2010)
