Zambia wants the International Monetary Fund to quickly deliver debt relief promised by the G8 rich nations to the world's poorest countries and should not delay by attaching conditions, Zambia's President said on Wednesday. Levy Mwanawasa said debt relief under the previous highly indebted poor countries (HIPC) initiative was delayed causing poverty levels to rise and development to be slowed as several poor nations had to channel millions of dollars to debt servicing. "We urge the IMF and the (World) Bank to learn from past mistakes of the HIPC process more swiftly and decisively implement the G8 decision," Mwanawasa said, according to Reuters. The G8 called for debts to be written off for a string of developing countries including Zambia, but the IMF's Executive Board must meet to discuss cancelling debt owed to the fund. Mwanawasa spoke as he met International Monetary Fund (IMF) deputy director Takatoshi Kato at his official residence in Lusaka. Zambia is one of 18 poor nations listed for debt relief under the G8 arrangement. In May, it received a $4 billion debt write-off under the HIPC initiative after being on the programme for five years. The Zambian Treasury estimates that $2.5 billion will be written off after the G8 approved a new debt cancellation mechanism, which will cut its foreign debt to just around $1.5 billion.
