Paris Club agrees to relief deal on Afghan debt

The Paris Club has agreed to a multi-billion-U.S.-dollar debt relief package for Afghanistan and a total of some 1.6 billion dollars of debt would be written off, according to a statement by creditor nations.

The deal concerned 2.4 billion dollars on ODA (official development assistance debt) and non-ODA debts, said the statement released late Wednesday.

Apart from the cancelled 1.6 billion dollars, the remaining 800 million dollars have been rescheduled. It was part of international pledges to cancel 100 percent of the country's estimated debts of 11.3 billion dollars.

According to the agreement, the ODA debts will be repaid over 40 years, with a 16-year grace period, while 67 percent of commercial debts are cancelled and the remainder rescheduled over 23 years, with a six-year grace period.

With Afghanistan's ability to pay taken into account, the deal defers all the moratorium interest due during the consolidation period, repayment of which will be made after October 2011.

Source: Xinhua