Africans welcome G8 debt relief package
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Relieved of at least some of the burden of servicing a huge foreign debt, Tanzania was able to abolish primary school fees. Uganda ensured more of its people got clean water. Now they have the chance to do even more. They were among 18 nations, most of them in Africa, who are to have their entire debt obligations cleared under a historic plan adopted on Saturday by the Group of Eight leading industrialized nations. It means a total savings of $US1.5 billion ($A1.96 billion) a year in loan servicing. “We are receiving the news with a lot of hope for our people,” said the governor of Tanzania’s central bank, Daudi Balali. “We can expand health and education services with this relief. We will also be able to expand our infrastructure.” British Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown said the G8 finance ministers had agreed on 100 per cent debt cancellation for 18 heavily indebted poor countries who had met minimum standards of good governance on condition that savings would be used for health, hospitals, nurses, education, schools, teachers and infrastructure - rather than lining the pockets of government officials. |