Iraq’s debts to be slashed by end of 2008

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: A deal to cancel the remaining balance of Iraq’s external debts has been approved by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), a media source from the Iraqi Ministry of Finance said on Saturday. “Today, Finance Minister Baqir Jabr al-Zubeidi met in New York with the head of the IMF, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who informed him that the fund will submit a report to the Paris Club by the end of the current year to forgive Iraq’s remaining exterior debts, around 20 percent ($30 billion) of the 80 percent reduction in debts,” the source told IraqiNews.com. The source quoted the Iraqi minister as saying that he is working with advisors and officials to reconsider some budget allocations and to reduce the current expenditure in an attempt to cut the budget deficit. The Paris Club is an informal group of financial officials from 19 of the world’s richest countries, which provides financial services such as debt restructuring, debt relief, and debt cancellation to indebted countries and their creditors. Debtors are often recommended by the International Monetary Fund after alternative solutions have failed. SS (S) 1