World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz said on Wednesday that the bank's executive board is expected to give formal approval to a plan to wipe out huge debts owed by poor countries.

"It will be in their hands to decide early next week," Paul Wolfowitz told reporters.

He said that the plan would forgive almost 40 billion dollars in debt owed by 18 poor countries, mostly in Africa, over a 40-year period. The World Bank would be able to start providing debt forgiveness to countries by the middle of next year, he said.

During the joint annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank held in late September, the IMF has approved a plan that would finance the cancellation of about 40 billion dollars in multilateral debt owed by the world's poorest nations to the World Bank.

Source: Xinhua