NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

    WASHINGTON, DC (CWNews.com) - US President Bill Clinton proposed on Wednesday to forgive all debts owed to United States by the world's poorest countries, an expansion of a previous commitment, but a small portion of total world debt.

    "Today I am directing my administration to make it possible to forgive 100 percent of the debt these countries owe to the United States, when, and this is quite important, when needed to help them finance basic human needs and when the money will be used to do so," Clinton told a joint meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. The US had previously committed to forgive 90 percent of debt at the Group of Seven (G7) major powers summit in June.

    The debt forgiveness was expected to cover only $1 billion of debt, and would cost US taxpayers "hundreds of millions of dollars," according to US Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers who said the debt is carried on the books at less than face value.

    While many countries were expected to benefit from the relief, the proposal would not cover billions of dollars of private loans guaranteed by the US government that many developing nations will still owe.

    Clinton said he was motivated by requests from Pope John Paul II and the star-studded Jubilee 2000 debt relief coalition to make global debt relief "a gift to the new millennium."

Articles provided through Catholic World News and Church News at Noticias Eclesiales and International Dossiers, Daily Dispatches and Features at ZENIT International News Agency. CWN, NE and ZENIT are not affiliated with the Daily CATHOLIC but provide this service via e-mail to the Daily CATHOLIC Monday through Friday.