[stop-imf] Jubilee press release on reports of US support for 100% debt cancellation

[robert weissman]

From: Neil Watkins <neil@jubileeusa.org>


As G7 Deputy Finance Ministers meet today in Paris to discuss the
proposal for 100% cancellation among other topics, Jubilee USA put out
the following news release today about the US Treasury's support for
full multilateral debt cancellation.

We hope to have more news to share and an update from Paris sometime
tomorrow!

Neil

+++++++++++++++++++++

JUBILEE USA NETWORK

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2004

Jubilee USA Calls on Bush Administration, G7 to Announce Full Debt
Cancellation by October 1

Debt Campaigners Emboldened by Reports that US Treasury Supports 100%
Cancellation for Poor Nations

WASHINGTON, DC - As G-7 Deputy Finance Ministers meet in Paris on Monday
to prepare the agenda for the upcoming October 1 meeting of Finance
Ministers in Washington, Jubilee USA has learned that the US Treasury
department is calling for 100% debt cancellation for more than 30 poor
nations.

=93We support the call for 100% debt cancellation for all impoverished
nations, and we are very encouraged to hear that the US Treasury
Department is apparently pushing for full multilateral debt
cancellation,=94 said Marie Clarke, National Coordinator of Jubilee USA
Network. =93We renew our call to the Bush administration and other G7
governments: that 100% debt cancellation is urgently needed for all
impoverished nations, without harmful economic conditions, and that this
cancellation should be paid for using the IMF and World Bank=92s internal
resources. It is high time for the IMF and World Bank to contribute
their fair share to debt cancellation,=94 said Clarke.

The unprecedented discussion within the G7 about the possibility of full
debt cancellation began earlier this year at the summit of world leaders
in Sea Island, Ga. Though an announcement did not emerge from that
meeting, leaders directed Finance Ministers to consider additional
measures on debt at the conclusion of the summit.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, the World Bank and IMF released a =93Status of
Implementation=94 report on the Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC)
Initiative, the institutions=92 existing mechanism for debt relief. The
report once again acknowledges that HIPC has not succeeded in achieving
a robust exit from the debt crisis for impoverished countries. Instead
of addressing the initiative=92s shortcomings by calling for a
fundamentally new approach, the paper calls for a simple extension of
the program and would merely change the benchmark for debt sustainability.

=93The IMF and World Bank need to stop tinkering around the edges of the
debt crisis. We know after 8 years that debt relief is an effective tool
for poverty reduction, but HIPC debt relief continues to come too
slowly, for too few countries, with too many onerous economic
conditions. The time for 100% debt cancellation is now,=94 said Clarke.

A recent report by Debt and Development Ireland demonstrates that, even
using extremely conservative benchmarks, the IMF and World Bank can
afford to cancel poor country debt; in particular, the IMF can sell or
revalue some of its vast gold reserves.

=93Sitting atop a mountain of outrageously undervalued gold, the IMF, one
of the richest institutions in the world, pleads poverty when asked to
cancel the debt of some of the poorest countries in the world. These
institutions are wasting time and lives as they tinker with
half-measures and fail to take the bold action needed,=94 said Clarke.

Jubilee USA Network is in the midst of a =93Countdown to Freedom from Debt
campaign=94 to pressure the US government to support 100% debt
cancellation. In the past six months, Jubilee and its more than 70
Network member organizations have sent more than 600 faxes to US
Treasury, delivered 11, 000 cards to the World Bank and IMF, delivered a
letter from more 250 prominent religious leaders to the G7,  worked to
introduce bi-partisan legislation into the US Congress (the JUBILEE
Act), and organized call-in days that have tied up the lines at the
White House - all calling on the Bush administration to support 100%
debt cancellation. In the coming weeks, Jubilee USA will continue to
raise the pressure on the Bush administration and the G7 to support full
debt cancellation. On September 21 at noon, Jubilee USA will hold a
picket at US Treasury department and will organize a similar action on
October 1 at the G7 Finance Ministers meeting in Washington.
###


Neil Watkins
Outreach and Communications Coordinator
Jubilee USA Network
(202) 783-0129
www.jubileeusa.org