Dear Melanie:
An excellent and clear, to me, explanation. Thanks.
So it seems here that the word "condoned" means "forgiven" (doesn't have to be repaid). At this meeting, then, we are talking about how to use (spend) those funds that would have gone to repay debt.
Regards,
Ted O'Brien Bay Islands Beach Resort "looks like a Resort, Feels like Home" www.bibr.com escape.....com 1-800-4-ROATAN
--- Melanie wrote:
> > Would you please clarify for me what is mean't by > the > > phrase "Condoned External Debt Funds"? > > > This refers to the external debt, that was recently > condoned by the > international lenders. > > I'm not 100% sure of the numbers and details . . > .but I believe that > last year Honduras had an external debt of 5.6 > billion US $. A huge > chunk of that was condoned, leaving a current debt > of 2.6 billion. > > Previously, 33% of Honduras' income (in the form of > taxes paid by > everyone, gas tax, income tax, sales tax, etc.) went > to servicing > the debt. For example, on a gallon of gas, with 40 > Lempiras of tax, > about 13 lempiras went to the World Bank, Paris > Club, IDB > or "friendly governments" who had made loans to > Honduras. > > Presumably, that interest payment burden will be > lowered now, > freeing up funds to actually be used by the country. > > Usually, a condition of the condonation is that the > funds must be > used to combat extreme poverty. > > So, the meeting (in my opinion, I'm not involved, > but this sounds > correct) will be a forum to discuss what local needs > can be > addressed by funds that are no longer assigned to > foreign debt > interest payments. Apparently the Municipalities > will have access > to some of those funds, and they want to have input > from the > community on their local needs. > > Honduras is still a yearly recipient of new loans, > though. One of > the "benefits" of the condonation was that it will > make it easier to > get new loans. Those new funds might also be taken > into > consideration, as the new debt probably has more > favorable > conditions (grace periods, etc), and not as much of > the new debt > needs to be used to pay back the old debt. > > It is either completely logical, or totally insane. > Any other > experts out there with comments? > > Melanie Wetzel > > > > > > > > _______ Start your day with Yahoo! - make it your home page http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs
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