IMF discuss debt relief for 20 countries

  The Reuters news agency claims to have seen a memo written by IMF officials. It recommends that debt relief should be withheld from six poor countries until they've done more to reform their economies. The nations affected are Ethiopia, Madagascar, Mauritania, Nicaragua, Rwanda and Senegal. The timing of the memo is crucial as the IMF board is about to decide the final form of a debt relief plan. This was agreed amid massive publicity at the G8 summit of the major industrial powers held at Gleneagles in Scotland last July.

The plan involves cancelling debts owed by 20 of the most impoverished nations to international agencies, including the World Bank, IMF and African Development Bank. A decision to exclude nearly a third of the countries on that initial list would be extremely controversial, as debt cancellation is a key element in much hyped plans to alleviate global poverty.

The IMF board, which is dominated by the governments of major aid donors, is expected to announce its decision after a meeting in Washington. The six countries likely to be denied debt cancellation maybe eligible once they take specified steps to tighten controls on government spending and deal with problems - as the IMF sees it - in the way they manage their economies. 
 
  
 
Vocabulary:

claim : says, states that something is true

debt relief should be withheld: help with the money owed should not be given at the moment

impoverished nation: very poor countries where most people are living in poverty
 
major aid donors : the organisations which can contribute the most money

tighten controls on government spending: make governments become more careful about how much money they spend and what they spend it on

much hyped plan : plans that have recieved large amounts of attention to make them seem particularly important and good

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