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URGENT NEWS - Japan to Forgive Debt
- Subject: URGENT NEWS - Japan to Forgive Debt
- From: Rangoonp@xxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 04 Jun 1999 22:41:00
Subject: URGENT NEWS - Japan to Forgive Debts Owed by Poor Countries
Japan to Forgive Debts Owed by Poor Countries
AP
02-JUN-99
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.