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World Bank agrees to cancel Togo's $150 mln debt

Reuters    Translate This Article
28 February 2008

LOME, (Reuters) - The World Bank has agreed to cancel $150 million in arrears owed by Togo, opening the door for the West African country to receive fresh multilateral aid, the Bank's local representative said. James Bond, head of the World Bank's operations in Togo, Benin and Mali, said the amount included interest on unpaid debts dating back to 2001.

'A World Bank analysis has shown that the Republic of Togo does not have sufficient resources to pay the arrears owing to the institution,' Bond said in a teleconference late on Wednesday from Washington.

'The Bank will lift the suspension on disbursements to Togo in place since 2002, and the country can benefit from the support of new financing,' he said.

The cancellation was likely to take place in June, he said.

The international community has moved quickly to normalise relations with the former German colony after it held multiparty polls in October.

The European Union, the country's biggest donor, restored full economic cooperation with Togo in November after a 14-year hiatus.

The EU froze most aid in 1993 because of what it considered a poor democratic record in the country, which had suffered decades of authoritarian rule and periods of bloody unrest since independence in 1960.

At a meeting on Monday in Burkina Faso, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, offered Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe the prospect of a three-year poverty reduction programme once it cleared its debt to other multilaterals.

The head of the African Development Bank, Donald Kaberuka, was due to arrive in Lome on Friday to hold talks on the renewal of financial cooperation.

(Reporting by John Zodzi; Writing by Daniel Flynn; Editing by Chris Pizzey)

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