IDB Ponders Bolivian Debt Forgiveness

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is considering granting debt forgiveness of $1.3 billion to Bolivia. Bolivia currently owes $1.6 billion of debt to the multilateral, of which $1.3 billion is concessional debt. The IDB is pondering debt forgiveness to five countries in the region: Bolivia, Honduras, Nicaragua, Haiti and Guyana and the topic will be under discussion at the IDB’s governors’ meeting in Brazil at the start of April. At the end of last year, the International Monetary Fund forgave Bolivia’s total debt of $232.3 million; in January Spain announced it would cancel part of a $120 million Spanish loan to Bolivia to support education initiatives. And the World Bank has said it plans to start canceling $390 million of debt owed by Bolivia for the period 2007-2016 from the first half of this year.