Haiti Relieved of Debt Burden

Victory for Haiti as Nation Secures $1.2 Billion in Debt Cancellation

Extended Campaign to Win Relief for Haiti Finally Pays Off



WASHINGTON – Jubilee USA Network today welcomed the news that Haiti reached âœcompletion point in the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries program yesterday.



This step means that $1.2 billion in external debt owed by the impoverished island nation to bilateral and multilateral lenders including the IMF, World Bank, and US government has been cancelled. The Boards of the World Bank and IMF met yesterday to formally approve Haitis debt stock cancellation under HIPC and the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative.



Today's action to free Haiti of its unjust and unpayable external debt is a welcome and long overdue step. Debt cancellation will provide desperately needed relief for the people of Haiti ,� said Neil Watkins, Executive Director of Jubilee USA Network, an alliance of religious groups, development agencies, and human rights groups that has campaigned for Haiti ’s debt cancellation for more than five years.



Haiti suffered through a serious of humanitarian crises in 2008 and endured the devastating impact of four hurricanes. Sharp increases in food and energy prices have also led to an escalation of hunger among the poorest sectors of the population. And Haiti now faces the severe and negative effects of the recent downtown in the global economy.



Through this time of crisis for the island nation, a coalition of political leaders and organizations has pressed for the immediate cancellation of Haiti ’s debt. US organizations including Jubilee USA Network, Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti, TransAfrica Forum, the Quixote Center, Center for Economic and Policy Research, the Episcopal Church, and Partners in Health worked together to build the political will in the US for Haiti’s debt cancellation, in partnership with colleagues in Haiti, throughout the Americas, across Europe and around the world.



In the US , a bi-partisan coalition of 72 Members of Congress signed a letter to World Bank President Robert Zoellick in February 2009 urging immediate debt cancellation for Haiti . In April 2009, the Obama Administration announced it would cover up to $20 million in debt service payments from Haiti until Haiti reached completion point.



Haiti the most impoverished nation in the Hemisphere faced a long struggle to achieve debt cancellation, facing repeated delays under the World Bank/IMF Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative. Haiti completion point date was repeatedly pushed back by the World Bank. Jubilee USA and its partners have long argued that much of Haiti"s debt should be considered odious, dating back to loans contracted and often stolen by the brutal Duvalier dictatorships.



For more information, see:

World Bank press release on Haiti ’s completion point:

http://web.worldban k.org/WBSITE/ EXTERNAL/ COUNTRIES/ LACEXT/0, ,contentMDK: 22232346~ pagePK:146736~ piPK:226340~ theSitePK: 258554,00. html

Haiti is paying $1 million a week in debt service

Open letter to G8 Finance Ministers calling for immediate debt cancellation for Haiti
11 June 2008
Hon. Minister Christine Lagarde
Hon. Minister Giulio Tremonti
Hon. Alistair Darling, Chancellor of the Exchequer
Hon. Minister Peer Steinbroeck
Hon. Minister Jim Flaherty
Hon. Henry Paulson Jr., Secretary of the Treasury
Hon. Minister Fukushiro Nukaga
Hon. Minister Alexei Kudrin

Re: Open letter to G8 Finance Ministers calling for immediate debt cancellation for Haiti

The undersigned civil society organisations from the Group of 8 nations and other European organisations urge all G8 Governments to support immediate multilateral and bilateral debt cancellation for Haiti or a moratorium on all debt service payments until such a time as the debt is cancelled.

With food prices on the rise in Haiti and social unrest in the impoverished nation increasing, Haiti can ill afford to make debt service payments of US$58.2 million in 2008.

This amounts to over US$1 million per week and represents scarce funds which could be better spent addressing the current food crisis and helping Haiti recover from years of economic, political and environmental turmoil.

In 2009, Haiti is projected to pay-out US$50.9 million in debt service payments to its creditors. If it does not reach completion point under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC)
Initiative, this sum will rise to US$59.6 million. Given current political and social turmoil in the country it is highly likely that completion point under the international debt relief scheme will be delayed. This means that debt cancellation will happen too late for a country that currently cannot afford to feed its own people.

Moreover, much of Haiti’s debt was incurred during the dictatorships of the Duvaliers and Haitian citizens benefited little, if at all, from these loans.

In 2006 Haiti owed a total of US$ 1.3 billion to external creditors. US$ 1 billion of this is owed to multilateral lenders such as the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank. In addition Haiti owes bilateral creditors important sums.

In 2006, Haiti owed Italy approximately US$ 70mn; France US$ 65 million; the United States US$ 15 million and Canada US$ 2.6 million. These sums represent relatively little to some of the world’s wealthiest nations but could mean critical investments in the development of Haiti’s agricultural, health and education systems could take place.

The G8 are extremely influential within the Board’s of the major multilateral financial institutions and should use this influence to call for immediate debt cancellation for Haiti.
In the context of current discussions over the global food crisis, we request your urgent support for immediate debt cancellation for Haiti or a moratorium on all debt service payments until such a time as the debt is cancelled at the forthcoming G8 Finance Ministers meeting on 13-14 June.

Yours Sincerely,

1. Gail Hurley, Policy Officer, European Network on Debt and Development (EURODAD)
2. Alessandra Spalletta, Coordination Europe-Hati (CoE-H)
3. Fraser Reilly-King, Halifax Initiative, Canada
4. Neil Watkins, Coordinator, Jubilee USA Network, USA
5. Sarah Williams, Policy Officer, Jubilee Debt Campaign, UK
6. Annie Girard, Reseau Foi & Justice Afrique-Europe, France
7. Charles Arthur, Director, Haiti Support Group, UK
8. Anne McConnell, Haiti Advocacy Platform Ireland-UK (HAPI-UK)
9. Jeremy Hobbs, Oxfam International
10. Daleep Mukarji, Director Christian Aid, UK
.Jeremy Hobbs, Executive Director, Oxfam International
12. Chris Bain, Director, Catholic Fund for Overseas Development (CAFOD)
13. Raphael Yves-Pierre, Director Action Aid Haiti
14. Paul Chitnis, Chief Executive, Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (SCIAF)
15. Joseph Maxime RONY, Secretaire Executif du Programme pour une Alternative de Justice, PAJ, Haiti
16. Xavier Jadoul, charge de projets Haiti - Entraide et Fraternite, Belgique
17. Gudule Boland, desk officer for Haiti at Solidaridad, Nederland
18. Colette Lespinasse, directrice du Groupe d’Appui aux Refugies et Rapatries (GARR), Haiti 10. Suzanne Loiselle, directrice de L'Entraide missionnaire, Montreal, Quebec
20. Janine Bardonnet, Solidarite Laique, France
21. Jerge Petit, Solidarite Laique, France
22. Mathilde Bossard, chargee de projets aupres de Les Anneaux de la Memoire, France
23. Franck BARRAU, Secretaire General de l’org Droits de l'homme et gouvernements locaux, France
24. Delanoue Muriel, chargee de projets Haiti aupres de l’org Developper Former Informer (DEFI), France
25. Bernard Leray, Tresorier, Collectif Haiti de France
26. Stephane Compere, Charge de mission Amerique latine au CNCD-