[stop-imf] World Bank, IMF Support Debt Relief for Uganda, Bolivia

[Robert Weissman]

World Bank, IMF Support Debt Relief for Uganda, Bolivia

WASHINGTON (Feb. 8) XINHUA via NewsEdge Corporation - The World Bank's
International Development Association (IDA) and the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) agreed Tuesday to support a debt reduction package for Uganda
under the enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative.

In net present value (NPV) terms, total relief under the enhanced HIPC
Initiative is worth nearly 700 million U.S. dollars, equivalent to 38
percent of Uganda's total NPV debt outstanding at the end-June 1999.
This is expected to translate into debt service relief over time of
about 1.3 billion dollars.


This amount is in addition to the 650 million dollars (347 million dollars
in NPV terms) of relief provided in April 1998 under the original HIPC
Initiative. Total debt service relief under the original and enhanced HIPC
frameworks will yield approximately 2 billion dollars.


On the same day, the IDA and the IMF also agreed to support Bolivia's
eligibility for a debt reduction package under the enhanced HIPC
Initiative.


In NPV terms, total relief under the enhanced HIPC Initiative from all of
Bolivia's creditors would amount to 854 million dollars, equivalent to
around 30 percent of total debt outstanding at the end of 1998. This is
expected to translate into debt service relief over time of close to 1.3
billion dollars.


This amount is in addition to the approximately 760 million dollars (448
million dollars in NPV terms) of relief provided one year ago under the
original HIPC Initiative. In all, the NPV of Bolivia's external public
debt is estimated to be reduced by 35 percent under the original and
enhanced HIPC Initiative, which is on top of 17 percent debt reduction
already provided under traditional debt relief mechanisms.


The HIPC Initiative was launched by the World Bank and the IMF in 1996 as
the first comprehensive effort to eliminate unsustainable debt in the
world's poorest, most heavily indebted countries.