Group of Seven countries have told earthquake-ravaged Haiti that any debts it owes them need not be repaid and said international lenders should do the same, Canadian finance minister Jim Flaherty said on Saturday.
“The debt to multilateral institutions should be forgiven and we’ll work with these institutions and other partners to make this happen as soon as possible,” Flaherty said at a press conference closing a two-day gathering of finance ministers from the G7 industrialised nations.
Over the course of the two-day meeting in the Canadian Arctic town of Iqaluit, attended by World Bank president Robert Zoellick and International Monetary Fund managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn, members discussed what long-term assistance Haiti will need, Mr Flaherty said.
Haiti says that more than 200,000 people died in the January 12th earthquake, which wrecked the country’s capital, Port-au-Prince.
Tom Arnold, chief executive of Concern Worldwide, said cancelling Haiti’s debt was a very positive development. “Cancelling the debt should be part of a wider and more comprehensive approach to Haiti that should involve the International monetary Fund.
If this country is to recover it will involve a lot of money and a lot of planning. But cancelling Haiti’s debt means it doesn’t start with a millstone around its neck,” he said.