Lynn Bolin
iafrica.com
January 17, 2005

Recent agreements by the Paris Club of donor nations surrounding sovereign debt relief for Iraq as well as tsunami stricken countries represent an opportunity for progress in debt relief on the African continent as well, according to Finance Minister Trevor Manuel.

Manuel was addressing a meeting of the Commission for Africa and 18 African finance ministers in Cape Town on Monday, where they are compiling economic policy recommendations for the African continent.

The Commission for Africa was established by British Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2004 as an initiative to raise the level of urgency and attention for African economic development.

Manuel said that rather from detracting from problems on the African continent, initiatives for granting debt relief in Iraq, Sri Lanka and Indonesia in the past few months should add impetus to similar relief for the world’s poorest countries in Africa.

“Recent experience on debt relief suggests a new flexibility among donor nations, for example, in one day the Paris Club provided more debt relief for Iraq than the entire HIPC (Highly indebted poor countries) initiative since it began in 1996.”

The fact that rich countries had offered debt relief to Iraq as well as to Indonesia, Sri Lanka and other countries affected by the tsunami presented a “very strong opportunity” to make the case for African countries to also benefit from debt relief, he said, particularly debt that has been accumulated during the Cold War and by “dictators and kleptocrats” across the continent.

The Commission for Africa’s report will make an urgent case for further debt forgiveness in Africa where high debt levels are preventing economic development.