By Ryan Grim, Huff­in­g­ton Post

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/04/bill-to-cancel-haitis-deb_n_486467.html

A House sub­com­mit­tee approved a mea­sure on Thurs­day to press major inter­na­tional finan­cial insti­tu­tions to com­pletely can­cel all debts owed by Haiti, where a major earth­quake dev­as­tated what lit­tle capac­ity Haiti had to pay the debts back.

The Inter­na­tional Mon­e­tary Pol­icy and Trade Sub­com­mit­tee approved the Debt Relief for Earth­quake Recov­ery in Haiti Act, intro­duced by Rep. Max­ine Waters (D-Calif.), which also aims to encour­age direct assis­tance in the form of grants from those insti­tu­tions, rather than loans.

The bill would require the Sec­re­tary of the Trea­sury to instruct the U.S. Exec­u­tive Direc­tors at the Inter­na­tional Mon­e­tary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, the Inter-American Devel­op­ment Bank (IDB), and other insti­tu­tions to use the voice, vote, and influ­ence of the U.S. to accom­plish the debt for­give­ness. Waters has been a long­time cham­pion of debt-relief for Haiti.

“The moral case for can­cel­ing Haiti’s debt is clear,” said Bar­ney Frank (D-Mass.), Chair­man of the House Com­mit­tee on Finan­cial Ser­vices, “and the Com­mit­tee stands pre­pared to con­tinue to work with the Admin­is­tra­tion to autho­rize a swift and sub­stan­tial U.S. com­mit­ment to com­pre­hen­sive mul­ti­lat­eral debt can­cel­la­tion for Haiti.”

Haiti, the poor­est coun­try in the West­ern Hemi­sphere, owes $828 mil­lion to mul­ti­lat­eral devel­op­ment insti­tu­tions, accord­ing to the Depart­ment of the Trea­sury, includ­ing $447 mil­lion to the IDB, $284 mil­lion to the IMF, $39 mil­lion to the World Bank and $58 mil­lion to the Inter­na­tional Fund for Agri­cul­tural Development.

The idea that Haiti owes any­body for any­thing is a strik­ing one con­sid­er­ing the nation’s history.

“Haiti faces enor­mous chal­lenges now, and the bur­den of pay­ing off for­eign debt would pre­vent the nation from tak­ing nec­es­sary steps to help its peo­ple at this per­ilous time,” said Waters. “I intro­duced H.R. 4573 so that Haiti can use its lim­ited resources to make both imme­di­ate and long-term invest­ments in essen­tial human­i­tar­ian relief, recon­struc­tion and devel­op­ment efforts.”