1 February 2010
Tearfund is adding its voice to calls for Haiti’s international debt to be dropped in an effort to help its earthquake reconstruction efforts.
As international donations flood in to help the impoverished Caribbean country, national debts of US$891 million mean money needed for reconstruction will instead flow out to meet repayment demands.
Haiti owes a large part of this vast sum to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and is expected to pay it US$50 million over the next five years.
Haiti is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere. Out of a 10 million population, the majority live in poverty, with 55 per cent earning less than US$1.25 a day and life expectancy is just 61 years.
Tearfund is urging Alistair Darling, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, to put pressure on the IMF to cancel unfair debt quickly.
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