Honduras News - Daily News about Honduras

The president of the World Bank, Paul Wolfowitz, said Saturday he had secured the necessary votes from bank governors to approve $37 million in debt relief to 17 poor countries.

“Countries will now be able to put more resources into programs that directly help those who need it most_ the poor who need better education, better health services and great access to clean water, for example,” he said.

Wolfowitz said he needed approval from two–thirds of the members of the 184 nation organization so that the International Development Association, the arm of the bank that makes low interest rate loans, can begin debt relief July 1.

The 17 countries that will benefit from relief, worth close to $1 billion (?810 million) a year over 40 years, are Benin, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guyana, Honduras, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

Donor countries have agreed to a financing package to keep IDA in business since it no longer will have income from loan repayments by poor countries, the bank said.

Religious groups, development agencies and the rock star Bono were among those pressing the major industrialized countries to get the bank and the International Monetary Fund to forgive poor countries’ debts.