Madagascar: Debt campaigners call for total write-off

A coalition of debt campaigners has welcomed a decision by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to cancel half of Madagascar's debt, but has called for a total write-off of the money owed to the two financial institutions. "The problem is Madagascar is still too poor to service the rest of its debt. We have been calling for full debt cancellation of all the poor countries which fall under the HIPC [Heavily Indebted Poor countries] initiative," Ashok Sinha, coordinator of the UK-based Jubilee Debt Campaign told IRIN.