More Paris Club debt relief for Guyana
THE Paris Club has approved further debt relief for Guyana of US$127M, the organisation announced yesterday. At a meeting in Paris, attended by Finance Minister, Mr. Bharrat Jagdeo, the creditors said they were also ready to further reduce Guyana's debt in the framework of an improved Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) initiative. Guyana is eligible for debt relief under the current HIPC approved by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The Paris Club, in a release, said representatives of the creditor countries at the meeting "took note that, given its strong past track record in structural adjustment as well as the burden of its indebtedness, Guyana has reached the completion point under the HIPC initiative." The US$127M debt relief over 20 years, works out to about US$6M a year. "The released financial resources will allow for an increase in Guyana's expenditure for education, health and poverty alleviation programme", the organisation said. Representatives of the creditor countries also agreed to include in the reorganisation of Guyana's debt, a voluntary debt swap facility of up to 20 per cent of the stock of debt of each creditor country, the Paris Club said. It noted that since 1996, the debt due by Guyana to Paris Club creditors, has been reduced by more than US$700M, "broadly equivalent to Guyana's GDP (Gross Domestic Product)." The annual debt service payable to those creditors has been reduced from more than US$70M to about US$13M, the group said. The release said representatives of the creditor countries "welcomed the determination expressed by Guyana to implement a comprehensive and rigorous economic programme which should provide the basis for sustained economic growth." Members of the Paris Club who took part in the reorganisation of Guyana's debt were representatives of the governments of Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States. Trinidad and Tobago, a major creditor of Guyana, also took part in the reorganisation.
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