Prime Minister Stephen Harper announces Canada cancels Haiti’s Debt

June 25, 2010

HUNTSVILLE, ONTARIO – Prime Minister Stephen Harper today announced that Canada has paid off its share of Haiti’s debt to the Inter-American Development Bank and the International Fund for Agricultural Development.  Canada is the first country to make all of the payments required to cancel the debt Haiti owes to all international financial institutions.
 
“Two weeks after the tragic earthquake in Haiti, Canada called for the full cancellation of the debt owed by Haiti to international organizations like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund,” said Prime Minister Harper.  “With today’s announcement, Canada has fully honoured its international pledge to the people of Haiti, and we urge others to follow this example at the G-20 Leaders’ Summit this weekend.”
 
While the Government had already cancelled the debt owed by Haiti to Canada under the Canadian Debt Initiative before the earthquake, following the tragedy Canada led a G-20 consensus to forgive debt owed by Haiti to international financial institutions. 
Since the earthquake struck Haiti in January 2010, Canada has played a leading role in the global response by providing significant humanitarian and reconstruction assistance. Forgiving debt owed by Haiti has been a critical part of this effort. 



Backgrounder

A World-Leading Track Record of Debt Relief for Haiti

Since the earthquake struck Haiti in January 2010, Canada has played a leading role in the global response by providing significant humanitarian and reconstruction assistance. Forgiving debt owed by Haiti has been a critical part of this effort.
While the Government had already cancelled the debt owed by Haiti to Canada under the Canadian Debt Initiative before the earthquake, following the tragedy Canada led a G-20 consensus to forgive over $825 million owed by Haiti to international financial institutions.  Canada estimates its share of debt owed by Haiti to these institutions at US$33 million.

While the Government of Canada cancelled all debt owed by Haiti to Canada through the Canadian Debt Initiative in 2009, it has led an ongoing effort aimed at the full cancellation of all of Haiti’s outstanding debt to multilateral institutions.  The Government is fulfilling its commitment to pay Canada’s share of all of the payments required to reach this objective.

At their meetings in Washington in April and Busan in June, G-20 finance ministers and central bank governors committed to work with international financial institutions to eliminate Haiti’s multilateral debt.

Substantial progress has been made towards this goal in advance of the Toronto G-20 Leaders’ Summit.

• The World Bank has cancelled nearly US$40 million in debt owed by Haiti, made possible by contributions by several donors.  Canada provided the largest financial commitment, close to US$8 million, to support this effort.
• The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), an agency of the United Nations, has agreed to a proposal that would use a mixture of internal resources and donor contributions to write off Haiti’s US$58-million debt.  Consistent with Canada’s traditional share in IFAD and our desire to catalyze other donor contributions, Canada contributed US$3.5 million and urges other IFAD members to finalize their contributions. 
• An agreement in principle has been reached to eliminate Haiti’s US$479 million in debt to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).  Canada is paying $21.6 million to the IDB as its contribution to this G-20 effort and hopes other G-20 members that have not already done so will follow through with their own commitments.
• The International Monetary Fund’s Executive Board is expected to shortly approve a proposal that would provide full debt relief to Haiti on the roughly US$284 million in debt it owes to the Fund.  Canada supports these efforts and looks forward to their timely completion.

Canada is the first country to make all of the payments required to cancel the debt Haiti owes to all international financial institutions.