From New Zimbabwe

France has denied media reports that it intended to cancel Zimbabwe’s debt, estimated at around US$3 billion.

A French government minister was quoted early this month as saying that Zimbabwe was among five African countries that would benefit from its debt relief plan in 2014.

Others reported as going to benefit were Sudan, Somalia, Chad and Cote d’Ivoire.

Said France’s social economy minister Benoît Hamon early this month: “In 2014, an estimated five countries could see their debt completely erased: Somalia, Zimbabwe, Chad, Ivory Coast and Sudan.

“The debt relief is almost immediate, since we are transferring loans made in the past into donations”.

However, France’s ambassador to Zimbabwe Laurent Delahousse refuted the claims.

“Zimbabwe is not eligible to the Most Indebted Poor Countries Initiative as long as it has not settled its arrears with International Financial Institutions,” the ambassador was quoted as saying in Monday’s Herald newspaper.

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