New HIPC CBP website
The new HIPC CBP website http://www.hipc-cbp.org has gone live and provides HIPC officials with more information on CBP events, advocacy work and country progress as well as the latest versions of the methodologies and training materials, available to HIPC debt managers on the Members' part of the site. The website has a complete new design and user-friendly structure.
HIPC Ministerial Meeting Communiqué
The 11th meeting of HIPC Finance Ministers was held in Maputo on 16 March, under the joint chairmanship of Manuel Chang, Minister of Finance of Mozambique, and Adelino Castelo David, Minister of Finance of São Tome and Príncipe. For the first time, the meeting was co-sponsored with the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Agence intergouvernementale de la Francophonie. Representatives of 20 HIPCs made key recommendations to improve debt relief, assure long-term debt sustainability, and finance the Millennium Development Goals. Their recommendations have already been discussed by G8 Finance Ministry officials.
More information on our Advocacy page
HIPC CBP Inter-regional workshop
The third HIPC CBP inter-regional workshop was held in London on March 29-30. HIPC debt managers discussed how to encourage donors to providing aid in ways which support HIPC priorities. They compared their best practices in creating institutions to implement public debt strategy, and the latest developments in HIPC debt relief negotiations. They also discussed current debt relief and aid initiatives, including initiatives to cancel multilateral debt and increase aid quantity and quality, as well as the Bretton Woods Institutions' new long-term debt sustainability framework.
The presentations and background papers will shortly be available on the CBP Members' site.
You can receive updated versions of this What's New page automatically every six weeks by receiving our HIPC CBP listserve. If you want to subscribe to our listserve contact us at mail@hipc-cbp.org
Updated version of the FPC CBP Software and new Software Manual now available on the member's section of this website.
The work programme page includes forthcoming events for the next two quarters based on discussion at the 15th Steering Committee in Livingstone.
Tanzania’s metadata has recently been updated on the IMF’s GDDS website. Section V contains specific detail on the use of data from the Private Capital Flows Survey.
The Selected Issues and Statistical Appendix for The Gambia (May 2004) gives consideration to efforts to improve the compilation of Balance of Payments Statistics.
Access to the members’ section of the website is restricted to programme partners and officials from developing countries.
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Canada and Netherlands to provide post-HIPC IDA and ADF debt service relief
Canada and the Netherlands have recently agreed to provide IDA and ADF debt service relief to post-HIPC countries until 2015. With the UK already committed to providing 10% relief on IDA and ADF debt service, post-HIPC countries can expected to receive a further 4% reduction from Canada, with the Netherlands is expected to provide 2.6% in line with their shares in IDA-13.
More details on how to implement this post-HIPC relief
BWI Spring Meetings make some progress
At the Spring Meetings of the IMF and World Bank, a little progress was made on new debt relief initiatives. The Netherlands announced their support for relief on multilateral debt service, adding to Canada, Ireland and the UK. All G8 members and the IMFC agreed on the need for funding of multilateral debt relief to be additional and for relief not to reduce the future lending capacity of the international financial institutions. Just before the meetings, Germany announced that its aid will reach 0.7% of GNP by 2014, becoming the third G8 member (after France and the UK) to set a firm date.
More on the Spring Meetings on the IMF website
Honduras, Rwanda and Zambia reach completion point
Honduras, Rwanda and Zambia have recently reached their completion points under the HIPC Initiative. Rwanda also received "topping up" extra debt relief of US$ 243 million.
- The IMF Committee on Balance of Payments statistics has agreed that it would be appropriate to revise BPM5 to reflect changes to needs in economic analysis. The target date for completion of the update to BPM5 is 2008. IMF staff have produced an annotated outline. All substantive methodological recommendations must be received by Intersecretariat Working Group on National Accounts.
UNCTAD's World Investment Report 2004 has been released. It presents the latest trends in foreign investment, and the 2004 report is particularly positive with respect to Africa's investment prospects.
The Development Bank of Southern Africa and Nepad's latest report, Financing Africa's Development: Enhancing the Role of Private Finance provides a useful summary analysis of finance, development and capital flows.