US Drops Liberia Debt!

Bowing to months of pressure from the Liberia Ledger, the US government has finally relented and dropped the debt.

"We will cancel that debt, all of it, under the framework for highly indebted countries," Condoleezza Rice told a donor conference at the World Bank in Washington on Tuesday.

Too bad it's under HIPC.

The IMF and the World Bank say that the country still has to pay off 1.5 billion dollars in arrears, or interest and penalties, before it can obtain partial debt relief or full cancellation.

Lots more detail from Inter Press:

Some U.S. lawmakers, non-governmental organisations and the World Bank are lining up behind calls for other major creditors to follow suit, since the country's total external debts are estimated at 3.7 billion dollars. This amounts to 3,000 percent of Liberia's annual export earnings -- among the world's highest ratios.

BBC says Bush has also asked Congress for $200m in additional aid to Liberia over the next year.