October 31, 2000
With U.S. funding assured, the International Monetary Fund expects to meet its goal of providing 20 of the world's poorest countries with debt relief by Dec. 31, a senior IMF official said Tuesday. But IMF spokesman Thomas Dawson said a major effort would be required to be sure that Third World countries that qualify have concrete plans to use the money they save on interest payments to construct schools, vaccinate children, prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and build farm-to-market roads.
``It would be reasonable to expect that starting in November you would see a steady stream of (countries) coming up'' before the IMF's 24-member board of executive directors, Dawson said. ``We still are reasonably optimistic we will reach the 20 figure that has been cited.'' ``Recent congressional action and U.S. ability to fully participate removes the concern as to whether we would have an effective, i.e. financed, program going forward,'' Dawson said.
Congressional leaders agreed Wednesday on a plan to write off loans to the world's poorest countries. The agreement included the full $435 million sought by President Clinton as well as allowing the IMF to release $800 million from the sale of its gold reserves for additional debt forgiveness. To date, 11 countries have been accepted in the ``highly indebted poor country'' initiative jointly run by the IMF and its sister institution, the World Bank, and will save a total of $19 billion
The chief executives of the two financial organizations said they expect to complete work on nine more countries by the end of the year, a target set for them by the United States and other major industrialized countries. But development organizations have said the bank and the fund may be overly optimistic given past performance of the 4-year-old initiative.
Dawson said other countries on a full list of 33 targeted for debt relief would be dealt with later. Some are experiencing war or are in post-conflict situations and their economies are unstable. Among those pressing for debt relief by the end of the year is an unusual coalition that includes Pope John Paul II, singer Bono of the rock group U2 and international relief agencies such as Oxfam.
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