Saudi Arabia writes off most of Iraq debt
Washington,
Apr
18:
Saudi
Arabia
has
decided
to
write
off
80
percent
of
the
more
than
15
billion
dollars
it
is
owed
by
Iraq,
the
Washington
Post
reported
today.
As
part
of
its
plan
to
help
Iraq
rebuild,
the
Bush
administration
has
been
pressing
Iraq's
creditors
to
follow
Washington's
lead
and
write
off
debt
it
is
owed
by
Baghdad.
A
senior
Saudi
official,
who
was
not
named,
told
the
Post
that
his
country
would
write
off
80
per
cent
of
Iraq's
debt.
The
official
estimated
Iraq's
debt
to
his
country
at
15
billion
dollars
to
18
billion
dollars.
Iraq's
Finance
Minister
Bayan
Jabr
estimates
Iraq's
debt
at
140
billion
dollars.
Much
of
that
money
was
borrowed
to
finance
the
1980-1988
war
between
Iraq
and
Iran.
Jabr,
who
was
in
Washington
for
World
Bank
meetings,
said
he
had
asked
Saudi
Arabia
to
forgive
all
of
Iraq's
debt
but
was
rebuffed.
So
far,
52
countries
have
cancelled
80
to
100
percent
of
Iraq's
debt,
Jabr
told
the
Post.
Reuters