The World Bank and International Monetary Fund are to cancel almost half of Madagascar’s external debt next week, World Bank President James Wolfensohn said on Thursday.
”On October 21, when the boards of the World Bank and IMF come to Madagascar we will cancel two billion dollars of these debts,” he told a news conference held with President Marc Ravalomanana.
”Every year you have to pay your creditors more than $50-million, but not after this month,” said Wolfensohn.
”We cannot plan a strategy for the future without debt cancellation,” said Ravalomanana, adding that he planned to halve the endemic poverty in his country within 10 years.
In July, Ravalomanana presented a poverty reduction strategy paper to the World Bank in Washington, which contained pledges about good governance and economic development that are necessary for debt reduction under the enhanced highly indebted poor countries’ initiative.
”All the projects backed by the World Bank are working and we are working well with the government,” said Wolfenshon, at the end of a three-day visit to the Indian Ocean island.
The World Bank chief later left for Ethiopia. – Sapa-AFP