Contrary to the recent media reports, Haiti’s debt still is not cancelled. While the G7 announced that they will cancel the debts due to them from Haiti, this represents a minimal amount of Haiti’s debt (not more than US$ 122 million). The bulk of Haiti’s debt – US$ 650 million – still remains to be cancelled by international financial institutions such as the Inter-American Development Bank, the IMF and the World Bank.
Ireland is implicated in this failure through our membership of the IMF and World Bank. The government of Canada represents Ireland’s views at the executive boards of these institutions. Yet despite Ireland’s support for debt cancellation for the poorest countries in the world such as Haiti, Canada has still not insisted that the institutions cancel Haiti’s debt.
We need to put pressure on both the Irish and Canadian governments to cancel Haiti’s debt immediately and unconditionally. This is an urgent action as concern about Haiti’s debt has now disappeared from public attention. Continue reading “Haiti’s Debt Still Not Cancelled – Take Action Now!”