Canada's Finance Minister says G7 have agreed to cancel Haiti's debt.

[dipsydoodle]

Source: Sky News / AFP

Only just breaking : link to follow.

No link yet.

[DesertFlower]

1. did you mean Canada?

[dipsydoodle]

2. Yes - I did

I'd noticed the spelling error and the way I'd spelt finance minister too but in the past I've found that certain things in LBN cannot be edited so I left the errors be.

If you find a link before I do then please post.

:hi:

I did manage to change it afterall....lol.

[pinto]

3. (associated story) G7 pledges to keep stimulus going, despite debt woes - Update

Earth Times
G7 pledges to keep stimulus going, despite debt woes - Update
Posted : Sat, 06 Feb 2010 18:26:11 GMT



Read more: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/307866,g7-pledges-to-keep-stimulus-going-despite-debt-woes--update.html#ixzz0emvQpt4I

The two-day meeting included the finance ministers and central bank heads from the worlds' seven leading industrial nations - Japan, the US, Britain, France, Italy, Canada and Germany.

At the top of their agenda in was reform of the global financial system. Ministers have agreed that banks should pay for taxpayer bail-outs that helped keep the financial system afloat over the past two years, but disagreed on the methods.

The finance leaders also considered generous debt relief for the quake-stricken Caribbean nation of Haiti. US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the group was working to forgive all of Haiti's debt to international institutions, as well as offering grants rather than loans to support Haiti's painful recovery.

[dipsydoodle]

5. Thanks

It was on LBN Sky's ticker but the problem here at this time on a Saturday is that the ticker gets overtaken with sports news. It was however definitive that the debt was to be forgiven.

It's now the BBC's ticker too . States that each of the seven G7 countries will cancel their own bilateral debt with Haiti.

[nilram]

6. "as well as offering grants rather than loans..."

Totally, totally cool.
 

[Turbineguy]

11. The grants float to the top

of the heap. But the loans don't have to be paid off by the poor.

They're half-way to being Hood Robin.

[Posteritatis]

13. Good! (nt)

[tomm2thumbs]

4. now the benefits of donations can go to rebuild and not repay old debts

or at least I hope that is how it works - god knows they need the jump start. As bad as things can seem here the US, that country is literally on its knees.

[earcandle]

7. well, why not? not that the yankees are taking over haiti...

stay tuned. 

[dipsydoodle]

8. Too late to edit - BBC News link here

The world's seven most industrialised nations have pledged to write off their countries' debts with Haiti, following a devastating earthquake last month.

"G7 will cancel all Haiti bilateral debt," Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said at a G7 summit in Canada.

The G7 group also includes France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and US.

At least one million people currently need aid in Haiti after the magnitude-7 earthquake that officials say killed more than 200,000 people.

>

"It must be right that a nation buried in rubble must not also be buried in debt," he ,Gordon Brown ,said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8502567.stm

[Oregone]

9. Awesome

There are some other nations we can do the same to BEFORE the have earthquakes, ya know.

[jwirr]

10. Good now what is done to help them will actually have some effect

on their lives.

[Demeter]

12. I Wonder Who Shamed Them Into It

I'm thinking China....

[John Q. Citizen]

17. No, it's that Haiti can't repay anyway so they at least look good this way.

It would have been written off either way since you can't get blood from a turnip.

[Demeter]

18. Maybe

It's mighty suspicious, in any event. But giving new money without strings, that's the unusual part.

[cayanne]

14. Hurricane season is around the corner

I don't know what the people living in tents will do to find shelter. I'm sure someone is thinking about it now to make plans, at least I hope so.

[Judi Lynn]

15. Not a moment too soon, either! Thank you, dipsydoodle.

They've been punished long enough.

Destiny needs to turn the page on torturing Haitians.

[Tanelorn]

16. At last

we are beginning to forgive debt . A small step to eliminating
world poverty. I just hope other countries do not have to have
a horrendous natural disaster before justice is given to the
very poor.