BRITAIN: The British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr Gordon Brown, said yesterday that he has full support from other major industrialised nations to immediately freeze debt repayments from countries afflicted by the Asian tsunami disaster.
A deal between members of the Group of Seven will be announced at a creditors' meeting next week as Mr Brown sets off on a week-long trip to Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and South Africa.
"We and other governments are proposing an immediate moratorium on debt repayments," Mr Brown said in a speech in Edinburgh.
"The G7 and Paris Club must also stand ready to consider all options for further assistance," he added. The Japanese Prime Minister, Mr Junichiro Koizumi, confirmed at an emergency crisis summit in Jakarta yesterday that Japan, one of the biggest lenders to countries hit by the disaster, was willing to grant a moratorium on repayments for a certain time.
Asian countries affected have a total of roughly $272 billion (€205 billion) in external debt, with Indonesia owing some $48 billion (€36 billion) to the Paris Club group of creditors which would this year generate more than $3 billion (€2.27 billion) in principal repayments.
Both Mr Brown and the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, aim to put development high on the agenda as Britain holds the presidency of the G8 - the G7 plus Russia - this year."We need to not only do all we can to aid the reconstruction of those countries devastated by the Asian tsunami but we must make a wider offer as bold as the offer that was made in the Marshall Plan of the 1940s," Mr Brown said.
Yet the Chancellor's speech was overshadowed by Mr Blair's monthly press conference which was brought forward two hours and started at exactly the same time.
The move stirred speculation of renewed animosity between the two and that Mr Blair, who was criticised for not cutting short his holiday to address the tsunami disaster, was attempting to wrest back control of the issue.