IMF submits Iraq debt analysis to creditor nations

28 May, 2004

An International Monetary Fund debt sustainability analysis on Iraq has been submitted to Paris Club creditors, an IMF spokesman said on Thursday, as the US urges governments to forgive a large part of the debt.
The analysis will help creditor nations decide how much of the estimated $120 billion debt should be forgiven to help the country recover from decades of isolation and conflict.
"We have submitted a debt sustainability analysis to the Paris Club and governments have it as well," IMF spokesman Thomas Dawson told a regular news briefing.
"It was a task we undertook at the request of creditors and the Paris Club and provided an analysis of the (debt) profile and a variety of different scenarios," Dawson said. "It was not a recommendation (but) was a look at different scenarios."
He said the analysis was confidential and would not be made public by the fund.
A Paris Club official confirmed the group had received the IMF documents and said the matter would be discussed at a meeting of creditors in June.
Dawson said the IMF was separately in talks with Iraqi officials about post-conflict assistance that would be finalised once a "broadly recognised" government was in place after the June 30 hand-over to a caretaker government.
"That is a process that is taking place largely outside the fund," he said.

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