G8 deal warning
The G8 deal to help the world’s poorest countries out of poverty may not go ahead if non-G8 countries do not agree to the proposals, the government has warned.
Leaders of the world’s richest countries meeting at the Gleneagles summit in July agreed to cancel the $40bn (£22bn) debt owed to international lenders by the 18 most impoverished countries.
But international development secretary Hilary Benn has warned that the G8 countries still have to “persuade” other nations about the desirability of the deal, which would benefit mostly African countries.
Speaking before flying out to Washington for talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, Mr Benn told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “It is a very, very important deal. But there are other countries represented on the Word Bank board in particular and they need to support it too.”
He stressed that while there was broad agreement within the World Bank, IMF and African Development Bank to support the debt relief deal, countries outside the G8 had “understandably” asked questions about the proposals.
“What I think people will not want to see happen is at the end of this weekend some people to have got in the way of a deal,” Mr Benn added.
“The G8 is solid and we have got to persuade the other countries that this is a good deal for developing countries.”
The US treasury secretary has indicated that agreement over the issue should be reached over the next few days, but the World Bank has warned that it will be a challenge; with other countries wanting to ensure that money the international body would have received from the debt repayments is replaced.
