Yesterday afternoon the International Monetary Fund voted to give Haiti a $102 million loan.
This might come as a surprise - we’ve been following this story closely and just last week Dominique Strauss-Kahn announced he was working with donors to cancel Haiti’s current debt and debt on the future loan, effectively turning it into a grant.
Unfortunately, this hasn’t happened yet. The IMF’s press release had no mention of debt cancellation.
Yet we’re still hopeful. World leaders and executives in the financial institutions are discussing debt cancellation right now. The worldwide support for Haiti’s debt cancellation is incredible. Last week over 80 religious denominations, human rights, development and labor groups including Jubilee USA Network sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Geithner urged Haiti’s immediate debt cancellation. He has the power to work with Ministers of Finance in other countries and use the US’s vote in the international financial institutions to cancel Haiti’s debt quickly.
We have to make sure we hold our leaders accountable to their commitments and to the critical reconstruction of Haiti in a just and inclusive way.