lasagnabro
10-12-2004, 12:04 AM
John Dizard of the FT quotes an interview with Finance Minister Abdul-Mahdi: "We reject the idea that we should pay past due interest (PDI) that was incurred during the period Iraq was subject to UN sanctions and during the war. We will pay the interest that was due during the period we were not subject to sanctions. We also need a six-year grace period. This is not just a question of percentages. We are asking to have a one-shot deal before the end of this year. We don't want to leave any unknowns. That would be a very negative factor for our development."
Dizard comments: "Even most private creditors understand the legal reasoning behind the rejection of PDI during sanctions. It would literally have been a crime for western banks to have handled the interest paying transactions. When you subtract the PDI, the Paris Club debt shrinks from about $42.5bn to $21.02bn. Write off half that and you are within shouting distance of the American-Iraqi demands." Dizard quotes a source saying that: "the key problem right now... is that the Paris Club members don't want Iraq to be a Paris Club precedent [for countries such as Nigeria and Argentina]."
http://www.jubileeiraq.org/blog/2004_10.html#000632
Dizard comments: "Even most private creditors understand the legal reasoning behind the rejection of PDI during sanctions. It would literally have been a crime for western banks to have handled the interest paying transactions. When you subtract the PDI, the Paris Club debt shrinks from about $42.5bn to $21.02bn. Write off half that and you are within shouting distance of the American-Iraqi demands." Dizard quotes a source saying that: "the key problem right now... is that the Paris Club members don't want Iraq to be a Paris Club precedent [for countries such as Nigeria and Argentina]."
http://www.jubileeiraq.org/blog/2004_10.html#000632