ITALY and the United States have cancelled official debt owed by Nigeria amounting to $2.8bn. Of this, Italy wrote off $2.4bn and the United States $475m. Nigeria is campaigning for massive relief on its foreign debt, which the government’s latest calculations put at $28.8bn. Most is owed to Paris Club official creditors, including $19bn in arrears. Senate debt committee chairman Yushau Mohammed Anka was quoted as saying the US Congress had approved President Bill Clinton’s request for the debt relief and that Italian lawmakers had done the same. – Reuters
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