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AP-Report: Japan To Forgive Debts



Wednesday June 2 9:02 AM ET

Report: Japan To Forgive Debts

TOKYO (AP) - Japan plans to waive $3.3 billion in official development
assistance loans to some of the world's most impoverished countries, the
Asahi newspaper reported Wednesday.

A Foreign Ministry official confirmed that Japan was considering offering
such debt relief up to 41 of the Third World's most indebted countries.

But the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the sum of the
debts to be forgiven was still undecided.

The debt relief will be a major topic at the Group of Eight meeting in
Germany later this month, the official said.

Japan, the biggest provider of Official Development Aid loans, will also ask
other donor nations to provide more money to help impoverished nations
extinguish more debt, the Asahi newspaper said.

At the end of March, the balance of Japan's ODA loans to the 41 countries
totaled $8.2 billion, including $4.9 billion to four countries - Myanmar,
Kenya, Vietnam and Ghana - that the Asahi said may not be included in the
relief because of their failure to make progress in economic and political
reforms.