The Government agrees on debt cancellation for D.R. Congo

The Government agreed today to cancel NOK 166 million of the debt owed to Norway by the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The agreement with D.R. Congo is based on two multilateral framework agreements concluded in the Paris Club, which is a joint forum for creditor countries, in September 2002 and November 2003, respectively. On the latter occasion, the Paris Club decided to grant debt relief to D.R. Congo in accordance with the international Initiative for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries, known as the HIPC initiative.

In keeping with the Norwegian Plan of Action on Debt Relief for Development the debt will be cancelled without taking any funds from the budget. Thus, the debt relief will serve as a supplement rather than resulting in a reduction in other assistance to poor countries.

D.R. Congo’s remaining debt to Norway will then be NOK 122 million. This will be cancelled when the country has met its HIPC requirements, probably in 2006.