Developing world's debt targeted ahead of IMF meeting

Trevor Manuel, the South African minister of finance, says that the Group of Seven industrialised inations have failed to live up to their promise of poor country debt relief and said that he would take this message with him to the IMF meeting in Washington next week. Media reports on Monday quoted Manuel as saying: "The G7 committed in faith in Cologne to put money into HIPC [the IMF/World Bank's Highly Indebted Poor country Initiative]. We don't need faith alone, we need a few dollars in that HIPC fund." According to media reports, the IMF meeting will be preceded by a gathering of Commonwealth finance ministers. At this meeting Commonwealth finance ministers are likely to call for the G7 nations to honour the commitment they made at the Cologne meeting in June, when they pledged to cancel about US $70 billion owed by 36 countries. They are also likely to call for a relaxation in the terms under which HIPC debt relief can be granted.