Both sides are claiming victory this month in the long-running
negotiations on debt relief between the Kinshasa government and
the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Kinshasa has
won promises of substantive and rapid relief on some US$11 billion
of debt owed to the Bank and the Fund, which dates back to the
rule of the West's Cold War ally President Mobutu Sese Seko
(1965-1997). The revised plan on Congo's debt and the terms of
a new IMF lending programme are due to go to the Fund's board
on 24 September. If approved, the three year debt relief plan
could start in early 2010 and reduce debt service obligations
by as much as $400 mn. a year....
(This article contains approximately 545 words)
