IMF prepared to cancel Haiti's debt

UNITED NATIONS, March 31 (Xinhua) -- The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Wednesday that he is prepared to support the cancellation of Haiti's total debt of 271 million U.S. dollars.

"We want to be part of debt relief process," said Dominique Strauss-Kahn, managing director of the IMF. "I am prepared to go to board of the IMF with proposals to make it possible to organize the cancellation of this 271 million dollars of debt remaining."

Of the 271 million dollars in debt, 114 million dollars was loaned to Haiti a few days after the Jan. 12 earthquake, said Strauss-Kahn, who said Haiti's Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive praised the IMF for such speedy delivery of urgent funds.

Strauss-Kahn made the comments to reporters after speaking at the United Nations donor's conference on post-quake Haiti, in which representatives from more than 100 countries gathered to pledge their financial and political support.

The IMF forecasts an average growth rate in Haiti of eight percent over the coming five years, which will lead to a gross domestic product (GDP) per capita of 1,000 U.S. dollars -- 50 percent more than was estimated before the earthquake.

But to achieve that figure, Strauss-Kahn told reporters that Haiti will have to get in the "driver's seat." Medium- and long- term reconstruction will be virtually impossible if the Haitian government does not address its budget currency gap, which the IMF estimates at 320 million U.S. dollars, he said.

If the financing gap is not bridged, it will mean Haiti's central bank will have to provide monetary resources which could accelerate inflation.

"If we really want to build something, we need to have the foundation and the foundation starts with the year 2010 and budget support," he said.