IMF clarifies their loan to Haiti

Jan 21st, 2010 4:38 PM UTC
By Chris Scott

As we work to persuade world leaders to drop Haiti’s debt, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has clarified the terms of their $100 million loan. ONE is encouraging that emergency earthquake assistance is provided in the form of grants, not debt-incurring loans.

Richard Kim of The Nation reports on the details:

Today, the IMF put out an announcement clarifying the terms of its new loan to Haiti–it’s “an interest-free loan of $100 million in emergency funds.” A spokesman for the IMF emailed me to confirm that “the US$100 million loan does not carry any conditionality. It is an emergency loan aimed at getting the Haitian economy back to function again…” The IMF’s managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said in a statement that the IMF would immediately work to cancel the entirety of Haiti’s debt ($265 million) to the fund:

“The most important thing is that the IMF is now working with all donors to try to delete all the Haitian debt, including our new loan. If we succeed–and I’m sure we will succeed–even this loan will turn out to be finally a grant, because all the debt will have been deleted.”

In other words, as the IMF is processing a loan, it is also making a public promise to try to cancel it.

For some useful background on the figures behind Haiti’s debt, check out our policy brief here.

TAGS: Earthquake in Haiti, Haiti, IMF, ONE