Denmark cancels Guyana’s debt
--- G$855M written off since ’96
Guyana Chronicle
May 20, 2004
DENMARK formally canceled Guyana’s debt to that country yesterday, when its newly-accredited Ambassador to Guyana, H.E. Christian Konigsfeldt, said a debt cancellation agreement with finance Minister Saisenarine Kowlessar at the Finance Ministry here.
The agreement signals the cancellation of US$1.073 million worth of commercial debt and interest to the Scandinavian kingdom.
That represents 100 percent of Guyana’s debt to Copenhagen up to December 1, 2003 and brings the total debt reduction by Denmark to Guyana to about US$4.3 million of G$855 million since the first debt stock reduction operation started in May of 1996.
The latest write-off is based on the terms of the Paris Club agreement signed in Paris on January last, but is also part of Denmark’s support for countries, such as Guyana, participating in the enhanced HIPC Initiative.
Minister Kowlessar lauded the debt cancellation move by Denmark, saying the gesture would provide “much needed budgetary resources to improve social service delivery and supplement the fight against poverty.”
Ambassador Konigsfeldt said he was heartened to be part of the process. He said Denmark considered the debt cancellation a worthwhile initiative after the Guyana Government had successfully reached the Completion Point under the Enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative and was committed to using its limited financial resources to enhance poverty reduction.