IMF chief says he is working with all parties to reduce Haiti's foreign debt

BEIJING, January 21, the International Monetary Fund, the president of Strauss-Kahn January 20 in Hong Kong, China to attend the Asian Financial Forum on the issue of aid to Haiti, said the fund is currently working with the parties to work to reduce Haiti's foreign debt, including the organization announced in the aftermath of the earthquake to provide Haiti with 100 million U.S.　　According to the United Nations website News Center, Strauss-Kahn said 20th that after the earthquake in Haiti, the Fund hopes to provide Haiti with funds as soon as possible, and the process of approving loans is much faster than the grant, so the organization decided to first provide Haiti with a 100 million-dollar extended interest-free loan, and then try to transfer the loan into a grant.　　Strauss-Kahn said that the Fund was currently working with the parties to remove all of Haiti's external debt, and if that effort were to succeed, not only would the Fund's current lending become a grant, but the rest of Haiti's external debt would be eliminated. Haiti is one of the "Heavily Indebted poor countries" classified by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Haiti had 1.2 billion of billions of dollars of debt removed in June 2009, with the efforts of IMF and other financial organizations. Over the past six months, the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank have spared 900 million of billions of dollars in Haiti's external debt. Other financial groups are considering debt relief for Haiti.