Nicaraguan President Enrique Bolanos said on Friday that the Inter-American Development Bank would forgive 700 million to 900 million U.S. dollars of Nicaragua's total debt of 1.4 billion dollars.

The debt forgiveness came as part of the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative, Bolanos said.

The IABD also decided to forgive debt owed by HIPC nations Bolivia, Guyana, Honduras and Haiti, at a meeting on Friday in the United States.

Mario Arana, president of Nicaragua's central bank, and Mario Flores, the country's finance minister, were both in Washington for the meeting.

"Arana and Flores have convinced all the IADB member nations and I spoke to Mexico's president, Vicente Fox, who told me that his nation had been voting in favor of debt forgiveness for Nicaragua," Bolanos said.

Source: Xinhua