Malawi receives $3.1 billion debt relief 5.09.06
On Friday 1st September The World Bank and IMF announced that Malawi had satisfied the criteria to reach Completion Point of the HIPC (Heavily Indebted Poor Country) Initiative. This will release $3.1 billion over 25 years and save Malawi $110 million in debt repayments every year.

The total debt relief is made up of roughly $1.6 billion of HIPC debt relief, and $1.4 billion under the debt deal agreed at the Gleneagles G8 Summit in 2005 (MDRI). This constitutes a debt cancellation of 90% of Malawi's total external debt.

6 years in coming...
Malawi has been classed as a heavily indebted poor country for over 6 years but only now has received the debt cancellation it deserves. This has been due to the IMF and World Bank attaching strings to debt relief and suspending debt relief when Malawi has not satisfied these demands. Debt cancellation has taken 6 painful years to arrive and for other countries the wait goes on. Malawi is the 20th country to qualify for this debt relief, and behind it are another 40 countries that desperately need the same debt justice. How long will they have to wait, and what conditions will they have to satisfy, before they receive the same justice?

Join the cut the strings campaign and help end the harmful conditions attached to debt relief click here