Thursday, April 14, 2005 (Washington, DC) – As finance ministers of the Group of Seven (G-7) wealthy countries prepare to meet on Friday, ahead of this weekend’s IMF and World Bank meetings, civil society groups held a press conference today calling on the G-7 governments and the international financial institutions to support 100% multilateral debt cancellation for all impoverished countries with no harmful conditions attached.

For the first time, the G-7 agreed earlier this year in principle, to require the World Bank and IMF to cancel up to 100% of the debts of a number of impoverished countries. This breakthrough was the result of years of pressure from activists throughout the Global South and elsewhere. Participants in the press conference discussed the prospects for 100% debt cancellation for impoverished countries.

Jubilee South coordinator Lidy Nacpil said, “Because it is illegitimate by nature, the governments of the South must repudiate this crippling debt if rich governments of the North and the World Bank and IMF fail to cancel the debt with no strings attached! In fact, as our countries sink deeper and deeper in this mire of so-called debt, the truth is, the so-called creditors - the World Bank and IMF - owe us. They must pay reparations for the plunder and destruction they have cost us over years of colonial exploitation.”

Neil Watkins, National Coordinator of Jubilee USA Network said today, “We are on the cusp of a significant victory on the issue of debt cancellation. Yet, while the Jubilee goals are in sight, anything less than 100% debt cancellation for all impoverished countries will be grossly inadequate.”

Marie Clarke Brill, Director for Public Education and Mobilization at Africa Action added, “The debt cancellation plan must be achieved in days, not years. The $300 billion that African countries owe to foreign creditors represents a crippling load that undermines economic and social progress. The HIV/AIDS crisis and the ever increasing burden of poverty that costs the lives of 30,000 children everyday from preventable diseases demand an immediate response.”

Sony Kapoor, a senior adviser to Jubilee USA Network released a report on the feasibility of debt cancellation. The report sharply criticizes the IMF for sitting on mountains of gold that can finance debt cancellation. Kapoor said, “There is a financially sound mechanism for financing debt cancellation without any tangible impact on countries that borrow from the IRBD. It is unacceptable that the IMF and World Bank are sitting on top of more than $50 billion of spare change when millions of people are dying everyday because of the debt crisis.”

The Rev. Tyrone Pitts of the Progressive National Baptist Convention delivered the Religious Leader Letter signed by hundreds of religious leaders. The letter urges President Bush and Treasury Secretary Snow to leave no country behind in ensuring 100% cancellation of the debts. On behalf of the broad spectrum of religious leaders who signed, Rev Pitts said, “Insufficient action to resolve the crippling debt crisis shows a brazen and contemptuous disregard for all that we stand for as religious leaders – especially the call protect the most vulnerable and to live in solidarity with the poor.”

Njoki Njoroge Njehu of 50 Years is Enough Network said, “The G-7countries have dragged their feet for too long, sacrificing the health and well-being of millions of people around the world. Although it is not a panacea for all ills, without debt cancellation countries will be unable to invest in human security. The glacial pace of the G-7 countries when it comes to debt cancellation is both incomprehensible and immoral in the face of the human cost of the debt burden.”

Civil society groups including Africa Action, Jubilee USA Network, and 50 Years is Enough Network, will host a rally outside the U.S. Treasury on Friday, April 15 at noon to demand that the G-7 governments reach agreement on 100% debt cancellation without harmful conditions.