Calls from Faith-based and Human Rights’ organizations for the cancellation of Haiti’s debt to the International Monetary Fund are growing.
Haiti has a painful history with debt. When it won its independence in 1804, it was required to pay restitution to France for loss of property and lost profits from slave trading. Money which could have been invested in building a new nation had to be used to repay the necessary loans and interest. The loan was not finally paid off until 1947.
Today Haiti’s debt is nearly $1 billion. There are a growing number of calls for the debt to be cancelled and for all assistance to be in the form of grants and not loans
See Just Commentary Vol 10 N0 2 February 2010 www.just-international.org
