Xinhua03/18/2010By [Printer Friendly Version] Paris Club has relieved one billion U.S. dollars debt of member countries owed to Afghanistan, a statement of Afghan Finance Ministry said here on Thursday. "In recognition of the Afghan government's progress on economic reforms and the steps it had taken to reduce poverty, the Paris Club of 19 creditor countries canceled over U.S.$ one billion of Afghanistan's official debt on 17 March," said the statement. The group of industrialized nations agreed on the debt relief as the Afghan government had reached "completion point" under the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank's Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative, the statement said. Out of these, 585 million U.S. dollars relief was agreed on a voluntary basis by Russia, the United States and Germany and 441 million U.S. dollars was erased under HIPC criteria, it further said. Following this decision, the Government of Afghanistan will now conclude bilateral agreements to achieve the 100 percent debt forgiveness. Afghanistan will also continue to work to restructure its debts with non-Paris Club bilateral creditors, further freeing the government to focus on development priorities, the Finance Ministry emphasized in the statement. The post-Taliban Afghanistan is largely dependent on international assistance as the government's domestic income presently is not sufficient to meet annual national budget.
